Strahan v. NOAA, No. 18-752, 2020 WL 2042966 (D.N.H. Apr. 28, 2020) (McCafferty, J.)

Strahan v. NOAA, No. 18-752, 2020 WL 2042966 (D.N.H. Apr. 28, 2020) (McCafferty, J.)

Re:  Seven requests for records concerning whales

Disposition:  Granting defendants' motion for summary judgment

• Litigation Considerations, Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies:  The court holds that "[plaintiff] cannot satisfy [the administrative exhaustion] requirement with respect to six of his seven FOIA requests."  The court explains that "[plaintiff] did not appeal defendants' responses to [six of his] requests for information."  "The court is, therefore, precluded from judicially reviewing defendants' responses to these requests."  "However, because [plaintiff] appealed his July 3 request to the OGC, he properly exhausted his administrative remedies with regard to that request."  "Thus, the court may review whether defendants' response to that request complies with their FOIA obligations as a matter of law."
   
• Procedural Requirements, Searching for Responsive Records:  The court relates that "[plaintiff's] July 3, 2018 FOIA request sought contact information for a 'list of Public figures who are apparently on the [Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team] contact list.'"  "Defendants notified [plaintiff] that they did not create or maintain a list with the contact information he sought and provided [plaintiff] with a weblink to a publicly accessible contact list created by the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team."  "[T]he court concludes defendants were under no obligation to create an excel spreadsheet containing the information [plaintiff] sought."  "Defendants fulfilled any obligation they may have had under FOIA by directing [plaintiff] to a publicly available website that contained the exact information [plaintiff] requested."