St. Germain v. DOI, No. 13-945, 2015 WL 5568423 (W.D. Wash. Sept. 22, 2015) (Jones, J.)

St. Germain v. DOI, No. 13-945, 2015 WL 5568423 (W.D. Wash. Sept. 22, 2015) (Jones, J.)

Re: Request for records concerning disenrollment proceedings of the Nooksack Indian Tribe

Disposition: Denying defendant's motion for summary judgment; granting plaintiff's motion for voluntary dismissal

• Litigation Considerations, Jurisdiction:  "[The] Court still finds that it has jurisdiction over the instant suit."  "Plaintiffs’ second amended complaint was a supplemental pleading which cured any jurisdictional defect for Plaintiffs’ (admittedly un-pled) July 2013 FOIA claim by alleging post-complaint events establishing jurisdiction over that claim."  The court explains that "[a]s originally filed, this Court had subject matter jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ claim under 5 U.S.C. § 552(a) (4)(B) based on Plaintiffs’ claim that Defendants improperly withheld agency records, which became ripe twenty days after their filing of their appeal."  "Likewise, had Plaintiffs filed their second amended complaint as a separate action on June 15, 2015, this Court would also have had jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ claim as it alleges that Defendants did not timely respond to Plaintiffs’ July 1, 2013 FOIA request."