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Stonehill v. IRS, No. 19-3644, 2021 WL 1092166 (D.D.C. Mar. 22, 2021) (Moss, J.)

Date

Stonehill v. IRS, No. 19-3644, 2021 WL 1092166 (D.D.C. Mar. 22, 2021) (Moss, J.)

Re:  Request for certain tax records concerning plaintiff's late husband's business

Disposition:  Denying defendant's motion to dismiss

  • Litigation Considerations, Mootness and Other Grounds for Dismissal:  The court "conclude[s] that res judicata does not pose a wholesale barrier to Plaintiff's FOIA action."  The court relates that "[t]he IRS now moves to dismiss Plaintiff's complaint on the ground that her claims are barred by res judicata, in light of the earlier litigation."  "The IRS argues that 'Plaintiff's FOIA complaint is an attempt to re-litigate the adequacy of the search' conducted in response to her husband's earlier FOIA requests, which the agency argues [plaintiff] could have but failed to challenge in the prior . . . litigation."  The court finds that "[t]he IRS's reliance on the doctrine of res judicata is misplaced."  "The agency seems to misapprehend several important distinctions between what Plaintiff seeks to litigate in this case and the issues that were litigated in the prior cases."  "First, Plaintiff's current FOIA request seeks different records than were at issue in the prior litigation."  "Whereas the earlier litigation centered on records that the IRS maintained about [plaintiff] and its investigation of him, Plaintiff now seeks records that the IRS created in the process of storing, searching, and producing the records that were at issue in the earlier litigation."  "Plaintiff is thus attempting to use FOIA to obtain records related to how the IRS responded to her husband's earlier FOIA requests and to his requests for discovery in [earlier] litigation."  "In addition to seeking different records, Plaintiff's 2018 FOIA request also raises different legal issues."  "[T]he Court is unpersuaded that this Court or the D.C. Circuit resolved (or even could have resolved) the issues presented in this case, and, likewise, this lawsuit does not risk relitigating any of the issues decided in that earlier FOIA litigation, including questions of privilege."  "Despite the IRS's arguments to the contrary, Plaintiff could not use this case to relitigate the adequacy of the IRS's search for records responsive to her husband's earlier FOIA requests, because those earlier requests are not at issue here."  "The IRS argues that Plaintiff 'had two opportunities to challenge the adequacy of the search she is challenging through her 2018 FOIA request at issue here.'"  "But a FOIA request is not a challenge to anything."  "It is, rather, a request for records."  "And the doctrine of res judicata does not bar the disclosure of records under FOIA simply because those records relate to earlier litigation."
Court Decision Topic(s)
District Court opinions
Litigation Considerations, Mootness and Other Grounds for Dismissal
Updated April 20, 2021