Smith v. DOT, No. 19-35063, 2020 WL 1818612 (9th Cir. Apr. 7, 2020) (per curiam)

Smith v. DOT, No. 19-35063, 2020 WL 1818612 (9th Cir. Apr. 7, 2020) (per curiam)

Re:  Request for records concerning low altitude flights over plaintiff's house

Disposition:  Affirming district court's grant of government's motion for summary judgment

• Litigation Considerations, Adequacy of Search:  The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit holds that "[t]he district court properly granted summary judgment for the DOT because [the requester] failed to raise a genuine dispute of material fact as to whether the DOT did not 'conduct[ ] a search reasonably calculated to uncover all relevant documents.'"
   
• Litigation Considerations, Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies:  The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit holds that "[t]he district court did not err by denying in part [the requester's] motion for partial summary judgment."  "Although the DOT's failure to respond to [the requester's] FOIA requests within the statutory time limits meant that [the requester] was deemed to have exhausted his administrative remedies . . . [the requester] provided no basis for any relief outside of that provided by the FOIA statute."
   
• Litigation Considerations, Discovery:  The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit holds that "[t]he district court did not abuse its discretion by denying [the requester's] motions for discovery because the discovery sought was not within the scope of the limited discovery permitted in FOIA actions."
   
• Attorney Fees:  The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit holds that "[t]he district court did not abuse its discretion by denying [the requester's] motion for costs without prejudice to refiling the motion after the resolution of the instant appeal."