Hoeller v. SSA, No. 16-1876, 2016 WL 6651882 (7th Cir. Nov. 10, 2016) (per curiam)

Hoeller v. SSA, No. 16-1876, 2016 WL 6651882 (7th Cir. Nov. 10, 2016) (per curiam)

Re: Request for certain benefits records of requester's former spouse

Disposition: Affirming district court's denial of requester's post-judgment motion to reconsider

• Litigation Considerations, Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies: The Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit holds that "[the requester] did not exhaust before he sued, and so the district court properly refused to reopen his case." The court relates that "[o]n appeal [the requester] repeats that he has exhausted his remedies because, by the time he filed his motion to reopen the judgment, the Administration's time to respond had elapsed." The court finds that "[e]xhaustion of administrative remedies is a prerequisite to filing a FOIA suit; exhaustion cannot be satisfied during an already-filed suit." "As courts have explained in analogous contexts, exhaustion must be completed before initiating suit in order to realize the goal of allowing administrative remedies to relieve the burden of litigation on the courts."