Slaughter v. NSA and CIA, No. 15-5047, 2015 WL 7180511 (E.D. Pa. Nov. 16, 2015) (Schiller, J.)

Slaughter v. NSA and CIA, No. 15-5047, 2015 WL 7180511 (E.D. Pa. Nov. 16, 2015) (Schiller, J.)

Re: Request for records concerning Occupy Philadelphia movement

Disposition: Granting defendant's motion to dismiss; denying plaintiff's motion for leave to amend

• Litigation Considerations, Pleadings:  The court grants defendant's motion to dismiss.  The court finds that "[plaintiff] . . . never submitted the underlying FOIA requests."  "Rather, [plaintiff's attorney] submitted these requests in his own name without mentioning [plaintiff] or explaining that he was submitting these requests on [plaintiff's] behalf."  "Because [plaintiff's attorney's] requests cannot be attributed to [plaintiff], [plaintiff] did not suffer a legally cognizable injury when Defendants denied [plaintiff's attorney's] FOIA requests."  "Therefore, [plaintiff] lacks standing to bring this claim, and his claims are dismissed."  Additionally, "[b]ecause [plaintiff] lacks standing to bring his FOIA claim in this Court, he lacks standing to amend the complaint, and this court lacks jurisdiction over the matter."  "Therefore, his motion to amend is denied."