Schulze v. FBI, No. 05-00180, 2015 WL 5732108 (E.D. Cal. Sept. 28, 2015) (Ishii, S. J.)

Schulze v. FBI, No. 05-00180, 2015 WL 5732108 (E.D. Cal. Sept. 28, 2015) (Ishii, S. J.)

Re: Request for records concerning plaintiff's criminal case

Disposition: Granting defendant's motion for reconsideration; granting defendant's motion to dismiss; denying plaintiff’s motion to require DEA to produce Vaughn index

• Fees and Fee Waivers:  "The court finds Plaintiff has failed to state a claim for which relief can be granted because Plaintiff has failed to pay the statutory fees and has failed to show entitlement to fee waiver."  The court relates that "[i]n this case there is no dispute that DEA estimated the total of applicable fees would be in excess of $2,000 and requested that Plaintiff pay the fees, or promise to pay the fees, in advance."  "Plaintiff has not disputed that he declined to pay or promise to pay DEA the requested fees."  The court also finds that it "can find nothing that could arguably fit within the realm of public interest with regard to Plaintiff’s FOIA request to DEA."  "Plaintiff’s explanation of his purposes in obtaining information from DEA are devoid of any accusation of agency misconduct other than the misconduct suggested by the practice of rewarding informants for their cooperation."  Therefore, the court finds that "[a]s a consequence, DEA is justified in declining to do further work to prepare documents responsive to Plaintiff’s FOIA request and in declining to provide any information responsive to Plaintiff’s request."  Finally, "[b]ecause there is no prejudice to Plaintiff, the court finds that further prolongation of proceedings to receive an opposition to DEA’s motion for reconsideration is not necessary."