Riviere v. Dir. of HIDTA V.I. Div., No. 2012-50, 2018 WL 1548686 (D.V.I. Mar. 29, 2018) (Gómez, J.)

Riviere v. Dir. of HIDTA V.I. Div., No. 2012-50, 2018 WL 1548686 (D.V.I. Mar. 29, 2018) (Gómez, J.)

Re: Request for records maintained by "Director of the Virgin Islands High Intensity Drug Task Force"

Disposition: Dismissing plaintiff's complaint

• Procedural Requirements, Entities Subject to the FOIA:  The court holds that "[a]s a HIDTA is not an agency from which [plaintiff] may obtain relief, [plaintiff] has failed to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, and his complaint must be dismissed."  The court relates that "Congress . . . specifically provided that: . . . Nothing in [21 U.S.C. § 1706] is intended to create an agency relationship between individual high intensity drug trafficking areas and the Federal Government."  "The Court is persuaded that the HIDTA agency exclusion provision is just such a provision that excludes a HIDTA from the definition of agency, and the reach of FOIA."