Feinman v. FBI, No. 14-5032, 2015 WL 1590416 (D.C. Cir. Apr. 3, 2015) (per curiam)

Feinman v. FBI, No. 14-5032, 2015 WL 1590416 (D.C. Cir. Apr. 3, 2015) (per curiam)

Re: Request for records concerning Taliban commander and suspected al Qaeda terrorist

Disposition: Affirming district court's grant of defendant's motion to dismiss

• Litigation Considerations, Mootness and Other Grounds for Dismissal:  The court holds that "[b]ecause the only relief we could give [appellant] would be redundant of relief she has already obtained, her appeal is moot."  The court explains that "[the original requester's] assignee, [appellant] filed suit in federal district court to challenge the FBI's refusal to fulfill [the original requester's] request."  The court finds that it "need not resolve the question of whether FOIA permits the assignment of rights because [appellant's] appeal is now moot."  "This appeal is moot because [appellant] has already received the precise relief she seeks here as [the original requester's] assignee."  "[Appellant] filed a FOIA request in her own name."  "That request was word for word the same as [the original requester's] original request."  "But importantly, by the time [appellant] submitted her request, [the subject of the request] had died."  "The FBI, therefore, conducted the search for responsive documents without invoking the statutory exceptions that had precluded a search in response to [the original requester's] original request."  "The FBI stated that it located no responsive documents."