Villar v. FBI, No. 15-270, 2017 WL 3602008 (D.N.H. Aug. 21, 2017) (McCafferty, J.)

Villar v. FBI, No. 15-270, 2017 WL 3602008 (D.N.H. Aug. 21, 2017) (McCafferty, J.)

Re:  Request for records concerning plaintiff

Disposition:  Granting in part and denying in part defendant's motion for summary judgment; denying plaintiff's motion for summary judgment

• Litigation Considerations, Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies:  The court holds that "the FBI is entitled to summary judgment on the portion of [plaintiff's] claim concerning [a] Request [for records concerning a third party]."  The court first notes that "[plaintiff's] complaint contains no allegation concerning the FBI's refusal to search for records relating to [the third party]."  "[Plaintiff's] objection likewise does not mention the FBI's Glomar response to the . . . Request."  "Nevertheless, given that [plaintiff's] complaint was filed pro se and that the complaint and objection do discuss [the third party] and her role in [the requester's] criminal trial, the court will construe the complaint to include a claim challenging the FBI's response to the . . . Request."  However, the court then finds that "[plaintiff] points to no evidence demonstrating that he appealed the FBI's response to the . . . Request."  "Nor has he argued that he is exempt from FOIA's exhaustion requirement."
   
• Litigation Considerations, Vaughn Index/Declaration:  The court holds that "the FBI’s coded index and declarations fail to provide [plaintiff] with the opportunity to contest the agency's conclusions and fail to provide the court with the factual basis it needs to conduct a de novo review."  "The FBI has withheld in full what appears to be numerous lengthy documents without providing even a cursory description of what those documents contain."  "Several long ranges of pages are withheld in their entirety based on a uniform set of codes, which raises doubt about whether the FBI correlated each exemption to a particular portion of a document, as it is required to do."  "And while the FBI has provided a lengthy declaration justifying the claimed exemptions, that declaration only discusses the exempt material in general terms and fails to address the specific documents at issue."  "Finally, the FBI has not provided any explanation for its conclusion that the withheld documents contain no segregable, disclosable material."  "Because the FBI has failed to provide the court with sufficient information to conduct its de novo review, the court will not assess the applicability of the exemptions that the FBI claims at this juncture."  "The court will permit [plaintiff] and the FBI to file additional motions for summary judgment[]"and the FBI to "support its withholdings with enough detail to allow the court and [plaintiff] to assess its conclusions concerning the applicability of the FOIA exemptions on which it relies and segregability."