Matthews v. EOUSA, No. 21-50829, 2022 WL 1055178 (5th Cir. Apr. 8, 2022) (per curiam)

Matthews v. EOUSA, No. 21-50829, 2022 WL 1055178 (5th Cir. Apr. 8, 2022) (per curiam) 

Re:  Request for records concerning (1) plaintiff's criminal investigation and prosecution and (2) food service at FCI Englewood

Disposition:  Affirming the district court's dismissal of requester's suit as moot

• Litigation Considerations, Mootness and Other Grounds for Dismissal:  "[The requester's] complaint challenged the agencies' failure to timely respond to his requests. . . ."  "And [the requester] does not dispute that the agencies have now responded to those requests."  "His claims regarding the timeliness of the agencies' responses are therefore moot."  "[The requester] resists this conclusion because, in his view, the agencies' responses were inadequate."  "But as the magistrate judge observed, our court has long distinguished 'between FOIA claims based on the timeliness of the response and those based on the adequacy of the response.'"  "[The requester] did not challenge the adequacy of the agencies' responses in his complaint."  "Nor could he have: There were no responses to challenge as inadequate when [the requester] brought this action."  The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit "agree[s] with the district court that when the agencies 'responded to his requests, [the requester's] timeliness claims against them were rendered moot.'"