Rios v. U.S., No. 15-1183, 2017 WL 3278833 (D.D.C. July 31, 2017) (Chutkan, J.)

Rios v. U.S., No. 15-1183, 2017 WL 3278833 (D.D.C. July 31, 2017) (Chutkan, J.)

Re:  Request for records concerning plaintiff, as well as investigation of DEA Special Agent

Disposition:  Denying defendant's motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, for summary judgment

• Litigation Considerations, Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies:  The court rejects "Defendant['s] conten[tion] that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law because 'Plaintiff has not exhausted his administrative remedies and DEA has sent several correspondences requesting additional information from plaintiff.'"  The court finds that, "[i]n contrast to DEA's . . . declaration that Plaintiff 'has failed to certify his identity[,] [d]espite being provide[d] a DOJ Certification of Identity, DOJ Form 361,' . . .the record reveals that Plaintiff in fact complied with the identity verification rule[]" because he provided the requested information to defendant.  "Because [defendant's] regulation [on this topic] requires 'no specific form,' the fact that Plaintiff failed to execute DOJ Form 361 [and instead simply provided the information at issue to defendant] is of no material consequence."  Additionally, the court finds that "[n]owhere in its response to [plaintiff's] second reformulated request did DEA reassert the need for [the DEA Special Agent's] authorization or proof of his death, and the text of the controlling regulation does not require it."