Jackson v. United States General Services Administration
Jackson v. United States General Services Administration
Opinion of the Court
Memorandum Opinion
Before the Court is the Motion for Summary Judgment of Defendants U.S. Department of the Treasury and U.S. General Services Administration (“GSA”). For the reasons that follow, the motion will be granted, as there are no material factual disputes regarding Plaintiff Mark Jackson’s claim, and Defendants have put forward compelling evidence and arguments that they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
I. BACKGROUND
This case concerns the Government’s purported failure to provide Plaintiff with requested documents pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) and the Privacy Act.
II. LEGAL STANDARD
A. Summary Judgment Standard
A court will grant summary judgment where “there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.”
In evaluating a summary judgment motion, a court “must view the facts in the light most favorable to the non-moving party” and make every reasonable inference in that party’s favor.
B. FOIA Claim
To prevail on a summary judgment motion in a FOIA case, an agency “must show that its search was reasonably calculated to uncover relevant documents.”
The “relevant inquiry is not ‘whether there might exist any other documents possibly responsive to the request, but rather whether the search for those documents was adequate.’ ”
C. The Privacy Act Claim
The Privacy Act requires that federal agencies “upon request by any.individual to gain access to his record or to any information pertaining to .him which is contained in the system, permit him,. .to review the. record and have a copy made of all or any portion, thereof in a form comprehensible to him....”
III. ANALYSIS
Because Defendants do not claim that any FOIA exemptions apply or otherwise argue that they are riot required to produce the requested documents, this dispute revolves around the adequacy of Defendants’ searches. Defendants argue that they are entitled to summary judgment because they have conducted a series of reasonable searches and produced responsive documents, satisfying their obligations under FOIA and the Privacy Act.
A. FOIA
Defendants have satisfied their burden of showing that they conducted adequate- searches by submitting detailed affidavits describing the search process. Specifically, Defendants have provided declarations from Athena Amparano, a Government Information Specialist at the IRS, and Stephen Sill, the Director for the USAccess’s Managed Service Office within the GSA, explaining the search process, the personnel involved, and the information found.
In response, Plaintiff raises at least four objections, none of which is persuasive. Plaintiff first argues that Defendants’ descriptions of their searches were inadequate because Defendants did not specify the locations searched or state explicitly that “all files likely to contain responsive materials” were searched.
Plaintiff also questions the qualifications of Defendants’ declarants, arguing that other, unspecified individuals also should have submitted declarations. Ms. Ampara-no is a Government Information Specialist whose job is to coordinate search efforts in response to FOIA requests such as the one at issue here.
Next, Plaintiff argues that Defendants failed ’to search various databases that he believes ■ contain responsive documents. 'But “[t]here is no requirement that an agency search every record system.”
In short, Defendants have established as a matter of law that their searches were adequate and undertaken in good faith. Plaintiff has failed to rebut this showing. Summary judgment will thus be entered in favor of Defendants on Plaintiffs FOIA claim.
B. Privacy Act
Plaintiffs Privacy Act claim is largely duplicative of his FOIA claim and fails for similar reasons. Plaintiffs primary argument is that Defendants have not shown that their searches were “conducted pursuant to the Privacy Act,” as opposed to FOIA.
Plaintiff also requests that Defendants expunge “all records or information maintained by the IRS and GSA that is inaccurate and/or derogatory to Plaintiff.”
IV. CONCLUSION
For the reasons stated above, Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment will
. Doc. No. 1 (Complaint); 5 U.S.C. § 552; 5 U.S.C. § 552a.
. Id. ¶¶ 7, 15.
. Id. ¶ 23. All pending charges against Plaintiff were abandoned on November 6, 2013, and the charges were expunged on March 27, 2014. Id. W 28-29.
. Id. ¶¶ 32-33.
. Doc. No. 9-2 (Motion for Summary Judgment) at 2. Plaintiff noted that Defendants failed to tile a timely response to the complaint without offering an explanation or seeking an extension from the Court. However, Plaintiff did not identify any prejudice from Defendants’ delayed Answer. Doc. No. 18 (Response to MSJ) at 7 & n.6.
. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a).
. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); id. at 247, 106 S.Ct. 2505.
. Hugh v. Butler Cty. Family YMCA, 418 F.3d 265, 267 (3d Cir. 2005).
. Boyle v. Cty. of Allegheny, 139 F.3d 386, 393 (3d Cir. 1998).
. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).
. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249-50, 106 S.Ct. 2505 (internal citations omitted).
. Walden v. Saint Gobain Corp., 323 F.Supp.2d 637, 641 (E.D. Pa. 2004) (citing Goodman v. Mead Johnson & Co., 534 F.2d 566, 573 (3d Cir. 1976)).
. Wisniewski v. Johns-Manville Corp., 812 F.2d 81, 83 (3d Cir. 1987). Although pro se plaintiffs are afforded greater leeway than represented parties, "[c]onclusory statements in affidavits about the existence of facts do not provide the kind of evidence required to successfully oppose summary judgment.” Astree v. U.S. Dep't of Justice, Bureau of Prisons, No. Civ. A. 98-118, 1999 WL 94621, at *5 (E.D. Pa. Jan. 8, 1999) (quoting Pearson v. Vaugh, 984 F.Supp. 315, 316 (E.D. Pa. 1997)). Instead, Plaintiff "must provide or point out some affirmative evidence in the record that substantiates his claim.. .[and] cannot resist summary judgment based on [ ] bare assertion[s.]” Id. (quoting Pearson, 984 F.Supp. at 316).
. Cozen O'Connor v. U.S. Dep’t. of Treasury, 570 F.Supp.2d 749, 766 (E.D. Pa. 2008).
. Id. (citing Morley v. C.I.A., 508 F.3d 1108, 1120-21 (D.C. Cir. 2007).
. Cozen O’Connor, 570 F.Supp.2d at 766.
. Id.
. Abdelfattah v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., 488 F.3d 178, 182 (3d Cir. 2007) (quoting
. Id. (quoting Valencia-Lucena v. U.S. Coast Guard, 180 F.3d 321, 326 (D.C. Cir. 1999)).
. Cozen O'Connor, 570 F.Supp.2d at 766 (citing Iturralde v. Comptroller of the Currency, 315 F.3d 311, 314 (D.C. Cir. 2003)).
. Id. (citations omitted).
. Lechliter v. Rumsfeld, 182 Fed.Appx. 113, 116 (3d Cir. 2006) (quoting Nation Magazine v. U.S. Customs Serv., 71 F.3d 885, 892 n.7 (D.C. Cir. 1995)) (alteration in original).
. Cozen O’Connor, 570 F.Supp.2d at 766.
. Berger v. I.R.S., 487 F.Supp.2d 482, 493 (D.N J. 2007), (citation omitted), aff’d, 288 Fed.Appx. 829 (3d Cir. 2008).
. 5 U.S.C. § 552a(d)(1).
. Wright v. Potter, 333 Fed.Appx. 690, 692 (3d Cir. 2009) (citing Abdelfattah, 488 F.3d at 182).
. Doc. No. 21-1 (Reply), Ex. 1 (Supp. Decl. of Athena Amparano); Doc. No. 21-2, Ex. 2 (Supp, Decl. of Stephen Sill).
. Doc. No. 9-2 at 2-3.
. Doc, No. 21 at 3 (citing Doc. No. 18-1 at 5-8).
. Doc. No. 18-1 at 6; Doc, No, 21 at 3, 7 n.2; Doc, No. 21-1, Ex, 1; Doc. No, 21-2, Ex. 2 (explaining search process). Relatedly, Plaintiff argues the Defendants failed to specify how four pages of documents were identified, Doc. No. 18-1 at 15, To the extent that this evidenced a deficiency at all, Defendants remedied it by submitting a supplemental affidavit from Mr. Sill explaining how the documents were located and produced. Doc. No. 21 at 6; Doc. No. 21-2, Ex. B ¶ 3.
. Doc. No. 21 at 4.
. See Lechliter, 182 Fed.Appx. at 116 (finding “no merit” to plaintiffs contention .that detailed affidavits describing search efforts were not adequate under FOIA, and that the number of affidavits was insufficient).
. See Oglesby v. U.S. Dep’t of Army, 920 F.2d 57, 68 (D.C. Cir. 1990).
. Doc. No. 18-1, at 13 — 14; Doc. No. 21 at 4-5, Specifically, the SETS search uncovered nothing, the GovTrip search produced a single authorizátion for the Plaintiff to travel in 2012 but did not produce a corresponding voucher, the SmartPay system search produced three pages of documents that were provided to Plaintiff, and the “vast majority” of the Automated Background System folders were either empty or contained only information that had already been produced. Id.; Doc. No. 21 at 5.
. See W. Ctr. For Journalism v. IRS, 116 F.Supp.2d 1, 10 (D.D.C. 2000) (explaining that "under the FOIA, it is unreasonable to ;expect even the most exhaustive search to uncover every responsive file; what is expected of a law-abiding agency is that the agency
. Lechliter, 182 Fed.Appx. at 116 (citation omitted).
. Specifically, Plaintiff argues that the second page of his "Consent for Fingerprint Check” form was missing. Doc. No. 21 at 5-6; Doc. No. 21-1, Ex. 1 ¶¶ 6-7. This document was never found, despite supplemental searches, but there is no evidence that this was the result of bad faith or deficient search efforts. Doc. No. 21-1, Ex. 1 ¶ 7. Plaintiff also argues that Defendants failed to search for his " Electronic Questionnaire for Investigation Processing” record, but this record was apparently canceled or deleted once Plaintiff's job offer was rescinded, so there was no need to search for it. Doc. No. 9-3, Ex. A at 5, n.3.
. Doc. No. 18-1 at 18.
. Doc. No. 21 at 6-7.
. Doc. No. 1 at 17.
. Reinbold v. Evers, 187 F.3d 348, 360 (4th Cir. 1999); see also Sydnor v. Off. of Pers. Mgmt., 336 Fed.Appx. 175, 180 (3d Cir. 2009) (holding that plaintiff failed to state a claim under the Privacy Act where he sought to have his federal employment records changed).
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Mark JACKSON v. UNITED STATES GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published