Wine v. Dep’t of the Interior, No. 21-3349, 2022 WL 3715799 (D.D.C. Aug. 29, 2022) (McFadden, J.)
Date
Wine v. Dep’t of the Interior, No. 21-3349, 2022 WL 3715799 (D.D.C. Aug. 29, 2022) (McFadden, J.)
Re: Request for records concerning law enforcement officer’s entry onto plaintiff’s property
Disposition: Granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment
- Litigation Considerations, Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies: While “[e]xhaustion of administrative remedies is a prudential consideration rather than a jurisdictional prerequisite[,] . . . FOIA’s administrative scheme favors treating failure to exhaust as a bar to judicial review.” The court holds that “[plaintiff] fails to provide evidence substantiating his claim that he exhausted administrative remedies.” The court explains that “[t]hough [plaintiff] provides evidence that he filed an administrative appeal within a different agency, . . . he does not show that he appealed within Interior.” “More, Interior submits a declaration from its FOIA and Privacy Act Appeals Officer that contradicts [plaintiff’s] unsubstantiated claims about exhaustion.” “Interior’s declarant attests that he performed different searches using variations of [plaintiff’s] name within the relevant database but found no evidence of [plaintiff’s] alleged appeal of the redacted email.”
Court Decision Topic(s)
District Court opinions
Litigation Considerations, Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies
Updated October 13, 2022