Lucaj v. FBI, No. 16-1381, 2017 WL 1101610 (6th Cir. Mar. 24, 2017) (Moore, J.)

Lucaj v. FBI, No. 16-1381, 2017 WL 1101610 (6th Cir. Mar. 24, 2017) (Moore, J.)

Re: Request for records concerning requester's arrest, detention, and interrogation in Austria

Disposition: Reversing and remanding district court's grant of government's motion for summary judgment

• Exemption 5, Threshold: The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit holds that "to be inter-agency memorandums or letters, the [requests for assistance ("RFAs")] must have been sent from an authority of the Government of the United States to an authority of the Government of the United States." "The [Office of International Affairs ("OIA")], undoubtedly an authority of the Government of the United States, sent the RFAs to the Central Authority of Austria and an unnamed country, undoubtedly not authorities of the Government of the United States." "The RFAs' recipients having failed to meet FOIA's definition of agency, we hold that the RFAs from the OIA to the Central Authority of Austria and the unnamed country are not inter-agency." "And given that the RFAs are not intra-agency either, they may not be withheld under Exemption 5."
  
  The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit also rejects the government's common interest argument and holds that "however important it may be for the OIA to have frank communications with the Central Authority of Austria and an unnamed foreign government, however common the interest between the OIA and its international partners, the Central Authority of Austria and an unnamed foreign government are not, so far as Congress has defined the term, agencies." "Therefore, the RFAs from the OIA to these countries are not 'inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters' within the scope of Exemption 5."