Law Offs. of Sherrod Seward, PLLC v. USCIS, No. 25-00057, 2026 WL 2323095 (W.D.N.C. Aug. 10, 2026) (Orso, J.)

Law Offs. of Sherrod Seward, PLLC v. USCIS, No. 25-00057, 2026 WL 2323095 (W.D.N.C. Aug. 10, 2026) (Orso, J.)

Re: Request for records concerning third parties and other related documents

Disposition:  Dismissing plaintiff’s complaint

• Litigation Considerations, Standing:  The court finds that “Plaintiff’s own briefing establishes that the FOIA petition was submitted by [the owner of a law office], individually, because “‘he USCIS FOIA portal requires an individual requester,’ with the PLLC listed only ‘as the practice context.’”  “All correspondence, including [the individual owner’s] written appeal of the denial of his request were made in his personal name and signature.”  “On the face of the request and related correspondence, then, the statutory right of access under § 552(a)(3)(A) vested in [the individual owner], not in the Law Offices[, which is the plaintiff here].”  “An entity that did not make the request is not the holder of the right the request created, whatever its relationship to the person who did.”  “The PLLC is not the proper Plaintiff in this lawsuit, and its informational-injury theory fails at the threshold, independent of its corporate status.”
   
• Litigation Considerations, Venue:  The court finds that “[v]enue in the Western District of North Carolina is . . . improper.” “Because the Court is dismissing this case for lack of standing, transfer of venue under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a) is unnecessary.”  The court finds that “the PLLC’s principal office address [is in] Washington, D.C., with [a] Charlotte address identified only as a registered office.”  “Section 552(a)(4)(B) asks where the Plaintiff resides or has a principal place of business, not where it maintains a registered agent for service.”  “On the plain text of the statute applied to Plaintiff’s own filed record, the first venue prong points to the District of Columbia, not the Western District of North Carolina.”  “Plaintiff fares no better regarding the agency records’ location, as USCIS records of this type are maintained at the National Records Center in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, or the file storage facility in Harrisonburg, Virginia.”  “Neither party identifies any agency records located in the Western District of North Carolina.”