Farah v. DOJ, No. 20-622, 2021 WL 1723744 (D. Minn. Apr. 30, 2021) (Tunheim, J.)

Farah v. DOJ, No. 20-622, 2021 WL 1723744 (D. Minn. Apr. 30, 2021) (Tunheim, J.)

Re:  Request for records concerning plaintiff's criminal conviction

Disposition:  Granting in part and denying in part defendant's motion for summary judgment; granting in part and denying in part plaintiff's motion for summary judgment

• Exemption 5, Attorney Work-Product:  "Upon review of the documents, the Court has identified two pages in the Attorney Work Product file containing additional responsive, segregable content, and will order the DOJ to provide [plaintiff] with a modified version of the Attorney Work Product file, with the pertinent portions unredacted."  "In particular, the Court finds that [two pages] contain statements related to communication between Assistant U.S. Attorneys and [plaintiff's] defense counsel that can be segregated from statements related to internal deliberations, mental impressions, or attorney opinions."  "Rather than revealing attorney thoughts or trial strategy, the identified phrases and sentences merely report what had already happened in communications with [plaintiff's] defense counsel; these pages include some material which can be disclosed as straightforward factual recounting of what occurred, not reflecting analytical views."
   
• Exemptions 6 & 7(C):  "After conducting its in camera review of the Correspondence file, the Court finds that no additional responsive material should be disclosed."  "The redactions cover personal identifying information, and the public interest in [plaintiff's] ability to challenge his conviction or sentence does not outweigh the privacy interests."