Minkovski v. Dep't of Treasury, No. 18-1034, 2019 WL 1881083 (E.D.N.Y. Apr. 27, 2019) (Brodie, J.)

Minkovski v. Dep't of Treasury, No. 18-1034, 2019 WL 1881083 (E.D.N.Y. Apr. 27, 2019) (Brodie, J.)

Re:  Request for certain records concerning Sheryl Sandberg, former Chief of Staff to then-Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence H. Summers

Disposition:  Granting defendant's motion for summary judgment

• Litigation Considerations, Adequacy of Search:  "[T]he Court finds that the Treasury has conducted a reasonable and adequate search for records responsive to Plaintiffs' FOIA Request and has satisfied its burden of demonstrating that no responsive records were improperly withheld from Plaintiffs."  The court finds that "Treasury conducted a search of all available emails and electronic databases for documents responsive to Plaintiffs' FOIA Request concerning communications between the Secretaries and Sandberg from January 1, 2000 through May 17, 2018, the date of the search."  "Treasury personnel used various search terms that were reasonably likely to uncover relevant responses, including 'Sandberg,' 'Sheryl,' 'Sheryl Sandberg,' '@leanin.org,' and '@facebook.org,' but did not locate any responsive records."  "Treasury also reviewed records maintained by OES and did not identify any responsive notes of meetings between Sandberg and the Secretaries identified in Plaintiffs' FOIA Request."  "Based on the terms used to conduct the searches and OGC's review of records during Sandberg's tenure at Treasury, the Treasury has made a sufficient showing that its determination as to categories of records likely to contain responsive materials 'was reasonably calculated to discover the requested documents.'"  The court also finds "Plaintiffs' various arguments as to methods the Treasury used to search for responsive documents are unavailing."  Specifically, the court holds that "Treasury's destruction of records pursuant to published retention schedules does not undermine the adequacy of its searches."