Shankey v. FBI, No. 16-837, 2017 WL 3336617 (N.D. Ohio Aug. 4, 2017) (Lioi, J.)

Shankey v. FBI, No. 16-837, 2017 WL 3336617 (N.D. Ohio Aug. 4, 2017) (Lioi, J.)

Re:  Requests for records plaintiff believes will demonstrate that he has suffered harassment and various other injustices resulting from his efforts to investigate alleged insider trading by former President Barack Obama and others

Disposition:  Granting defendant's motion for summary judgment

• Litigation Considerations, Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies:  "Because exhaustion is a jurisdictional prerequisite in the Sixth Circuit, the Court is without jurisdiction to entertain [plaintiff's] claim [regarding one of his FOIA requests] and it is properly dismissed."  The court explains that "plaintiff filed his administrative appeal to OIP" which "had 20 days, excluding weekends and legal holidays, to resolve the appeal."  "However, . . . only 16 days after the administrative appeal was docketed, plaintiff amended his complaint to include this . . . FOIA request."
   
• Litigation Considerations, Adequacy of Search:  Regarding plaintiff's remaining requests, the court finds that "[defendant's] declaration describes in detail the FBI's CRS (as well as other relevant databases and indices), and the methods used to search for records in general and with respect to plaintiff's records requests."  "Based upon the searches described in the declaration, the Court finds that the declaration sets forth sufficient factual detail of the methods utilized in conducting the searches for responsive documents for the Court to conclude that the FBI '"has conducted [searches] reasonably calculated to uncover all relevant documents."'"