Borda v. U.S. Dep't of Justice
Borda v. U.S. Dep't of Justice
Opinion of the Court
This matter is currently before the Court on Defendant Department of Justice's third motion for summary judgment, Dkt. 40, and Plaintiff Christian Borda's motion for leave to file a second amended complaint, Dkt. 44. Borda seeks disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"),
I. BACKGROUND
The underlying facts of this case have been relayed in the Court's previous opinions.
*310See Borda v. Exec. Office for the U.S. Attorney ("Borda I "),
In Borda II , the Court substituted the Department of Justice as the proper defendant,
On June 9, 2017, the Department moved for summary judgment (the third such motion filed by the government in this case) and produced (1) a supplemental declaration describing the additional search efforts undertaken in response to Borda II and the rationale for withholding in full the eleven responsive documents those efforts produced; (2) correspondence with the district court judges who sealed the plea agreements that previously had been withheld in full; and (3) the plea agreements themselves for in camera review. See Dkt. 40. The Court then advised Borda of the consequences of failing to respond to the motion for summary judgment and ordered him to file a response on or before July 24, 2017. See Dkt. 41. Borda moved for an extension of time to respond on July 28, 2017, Dkt. 43, which the Court granted, Minute Order (Aug. 3, 2017). On August 17, 2017, Borda filed a second motion for leave to amend his complaint. See Dkt. 44. The Court again instructed Borda of the consequences of not responding to Defendant's motion for summary judgment and specifically "cautioned" him "that he should not assume that his [motion to amend] will be granted." Minute Order (Sept. 5, 2017). Borda still has not filed a response.
II. LEGAL STANDARD
A. Motion to Amend
A party may amend its complaint "once as a matter of course within ... 21 days after serving it, ... 21 days after service of a responsive pleading[,] or 21 days after service of a motion under Rule 12(b), (e), or (f), whichever is earlier." Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(1). Thereafter, a party may only amend "with the opposing party's written consent or the court's leave." Fed R. Civ. P. 15(a)(2). Although courts "should freely give leave [to amend] when justice so requires," id. , that latitude does not extend to cases involving "undue delay, bad faith or dilatory motive on the part of the movant, repeated failure to cure deficiencies by amendments previously allowed, undue prejudice to the opposing party by virtue of allowance of the amendment, [and] futility of amendment," Foman v. Davis ,
B. Motion for Summary Judgment
The Freedom of Information Act is premised on the notion that an informed citizenry is "vital to the functioning of a democratic society, needed to check against corruption and to hold the governors accountable to the governed." NLRB v. Robbins Tire & Rubber Co. ,
FOIA cases are typically resolved on motions for summary judgment *312under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56. See, e.g., Shapiro v. U.S. Dep't of Justice ,
III. ANALYSIS
The Court first addresses Borda's motion to amend his complaint. It then considers the adequacy of Defendant's supplemental search, before turning to the decision to withhold in full both the four plea agreements previously at issue and the eleven responsive documents located in the course of the Department's supplemental search. Although Borda has failed to respond to Defendant's motion for summary judgment, the Court "must always engage in the analysis required by Rule 56 before acting on a motion for summary judgment." Winston & Strawn, LLP v. McLean ,
A. Motion to Amend
Borda filed his original complaint on February 18, 2014. Dkt. 1 at 1. That complaint challenged EOUSA's response to three records requests submitted on November 4, November 5, and November 20, 2013. Borda I ,
The Department opposes Borda's motion on several grounds. First, it argues that he "has unduly delayed seeking to add his claims concerning the [a]dditional FOIA [r]equests," because the requests were sent in late 2014-that is, more than six months before Borda successfully sought leave to amend his complaint in June 2015 to add a request filed after the two requests he now seeks to incorporate. Dkt. 46 at 4. Second, the Department argues that it would be substantially prejudiced by the proposed amendment because of the considerable work involved in preparing a summary judgment motion in a FOIA case, an effort that would then need to be undertaken a fourth time. Id. at 4-5. Finally, the Department asserts that further amendment of the complaint would significantly delay the resolution of this matter by necessitating a renewed round of briefing despite the limited scope of the issues currently before the Court. Id. at 5.
*313Borda has not filed a reply brief, but his motion for leave to amend arguably anticipated at least portions of the Department's opposition by noting that he had referred to the September and October 2014 FOIA requests in an earlier pleading in this litigation. Dkt. 44 at 2 (noting references to the September and October 2014 requests at Dkt. 31 at 21-22, 24). That earlier pleading-Borda's opposition to the Department's second motion for summary judgment-argued that the Department was not entitled to summary judgment because the Department had not shown that it had "searched for and reviewed any of the documents/information described in" Borda's September and October 2014 FOIA requests. Dkt. 31 at 4. At the same time, however, Borda conceded that the first amended complaint had "failed to include any allegations of agency non-compliance with respect to" the two FOIA requests submitted in late 2014. Id. at 13 n.2. In light of that significant problem, Borda noted that he "intend[ed] to seek leave of the Court to file a [s]econd [a]mended [c]omplaint in order to" address these deficiencies. Id. On March 28, 2017, the Court held that "[b]ecause Borda's operative complaint does not challenge the Department's response to [the September and October 2014] FOIA requests, he cannot, for the first time, attack the sufficiency of the Department's response by way of his opposition brief." Borda II ,
"[U]ndue delay is a sufficient reason for denying leave to amend." Atchinson v. District of Columbia ,
These considerations counsel against granting Borda leave to amend his complaint a second time. Borda fails to offer any explanation for why the September and October 2014 FOIA requests were not included in his first amended complaint, which was filed many months later in June 2015. Dkt. 20; see also Dkt. 31 at 13 n.2 (noting that the requests were omitted for "unknown" reasons). Borda also does not dispute that he then possessed the records he now submits as evidence of having submitted the September and October 2014 requests. The delay here, moreover, is substantial. Forty-two months elapsed from when Borda filed this suit to when he sought leave to amend the complaint for a second time to add substantial, new allegations, and he could easily have sought leave to amend long before he did so. Indeed, even giving him the benefit of the doubt and assuming that he was unaware that the September and October 2014 FOIA requests were not included in his first amended complaint at the time it was filed, he recognized that omission in his opposition to the Department's second motion for summary judgment, which was filed in early April 2016, and he indicated at that time that he would seek leave to file a second amended complaint. Dkt. 31 at 13 n.2. He did not do so, however, until August 2017-over sixteen months later. Compare Dkt. 31 at 1, with Dkt. 44 at 1.
In short, there is no reason why Borda could not have included his allegations regarding the September and October 2014 FOIA requests in his first amended complaint; he failed to demonstrate due diligence in seeking to correct this omission when it came to his attention; and adding these additional allegations now would delay the resolution of this case, which has been pending for over four years and which has already generated three rounds of briefing on summary judgment. Although leave to amend must be freely granted, there are limits to that principle. Borda's motion for leave to amend not only tests those limits, but exceeds them. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 1 (admonishing courts and parties to apply the rules "to secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action").
The Court will, accordingly, deny Borda's motion for leave to file a second amended complaint.
B. Motion for Summary Judgment
1. Adequacy of the Department's Supplemental Search for Responsive Records
FOIA requires agencies to demonstrate that they have "conduct[ed] a search for the requested records, using methods which can be reasonably expected to produce the information requested." Reporters Comm. for Freedom of Press v. FBI ,
The Department has not adequately explained how its decision to consolidate Borda's four FOIA requests into a single "search request"-to the exclusion of at least some of Borda's specific search terms-was reasonably calculated to uncover all relevant documents. In particular, Borda's request for "all grand jury records in the public domain" related to his case appears to sweep more broadly than the five fact-specific search terms the Criminal Division included in its synthesized search request.
Borda II ,
In response, the Department expanded its search and has now submitted a revised declaration from John E. Cunningham III, a trial attorney at the Department's Criminal Division assigned to the Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act Unit. Dkt. 40-1 at 1 (Third Cunningham Decl. ¶ 1). The Third Cunningham Declaration explains that the Department has since returned to the set of files associated with Borda's case and searched for any "grand jury material specifically related to the Borda criminal investigation and prosecution." Id. at 8 (Third Cunningham Decl. ¶ 18). By expanding its search beyond the five fact-specific terms that it previously employed to a search looking for any grand jury material related to Borda's case, the Department has remedied the sole deficiency the Court identified with respect to the search.
The Court, accordingly, concludes that the Department has conducted a search "reasonably calculated to uncover all relevant documents," DeBrew ,
2. Withholding in Full of Responsive Records
a. Sealed Plea Agreements
The Department's initial search identified four plea agreements responsive to Borda's requests, which it refers to as Documents One, Two, Three, and Four. Dkt. 40-1 at 8-9 (Third Cunningham Decl. ¶ 19). These plea agreements have been withheld in full on the ground that they remain sealed by the judges who accepted the pleas. Id. at 9 (Third Cunningham Decl. ¶ 20). In Borda II , however, the Court observed that, by "repeatedly not[ing] that the four plea agreements were filed under seal and are not publicly accessible court records, but provid[ing] no information about the circumstances under which those agreements were sealed or whether, and to what extent, the seal remains in place," the Department failed to justify withholding the records.
As the D.C. Circuit has explained, sealed documents are not categorically exempt from disclosure under FOIA. See Morgan v. U.S. Dep't of Justice ,
The Department has now submitted documentation from each of the judges who originally sealed the four plea agreements regarding the status and intent of those sealing orders. Three letters were submitted as exhibits to the Department's renewed motion for summary judgment. Each verifies that the relevant plea agreement remains under seal and may not be disclosed. See Dkt. 40-1 at 70 (letter from Judge Rosemary M. Collyer stating that "Document Three on the Criminal Division's Vaughn Index ... reflects a plea that necessarily remains under seal"); id. at 72 (letter from Judge John D. Bates stating that another of the four plea agreements "is under court seal and that the seal prohibits the Department of Justice from disclosing the Plea Agreement in response to a FOIA request"); id. at 74 (letter from Judge Gladys Kessler stating that another of the four plea agreements remains "the subject of a court seal"). The final response was issued as a sealed order by the judge who accepted the plea. Id. at 9 (Third Cunningham Decl. ¶ 20). The Department has provided the Court with a copy of this sealed order for in camera review, and the order verifies that the original sealing order in that case prohibits any disclosure of the agreement. See id. (Third Cunningham Decl. ¶ 20) (stating that the sealed order "confirmed that the ... plea agreement[ ] ... remain[s] under seal").
Because the Department has "obtain[ed] a clarifying order [or letter] stating that the seal prohibits disclosure" of each of the plea agreements withheld in full, the Department "is obviously entitled to summary judgment." Morgan ,
b. Documents Located in Supplemental Search
The supplemental search undertaken by the Department identified eleven additional responsive records, labeled as Documents Five through Fifteen. Dkt. 40-1 at 8-9 (Third Cunningham Decl. ¶ 19). Each of these documents was withheld in full.
The Department has submitted, in addition to the Third Cunningham Declaration, a Vaughn Index identifying the author, recipient, and date of each of these eleven documents (if available), along with a description of both the record and the *317exemptions invoked to withhold it. See Dkt. 40-1 at 48-56. At times, the Third Cunningham Declaration asserts that more than one exemption would independently suffice to justify the complete withholding of a document. When the Court concludes that a single exemption is sufficient to justify withholding a document in full, it limits its discussion to that exemption and does not the reach the availability of the additional exemptions invoked.
The Court first addresses Documents Five through Eight. Each of these records is a grand jury transcript, id. at 8-9 (Third Cunningham Decl. ¶ 19), and has been withheld in full under Exemption 3, id. at 10-11 (Third Cunningham Decl. ¶¶ 22-24). In relevant part, Exemption 3 protects information that is "specifically exempted from disclosure by statute ... if that statute ... requires that the matters be withheld from the public in such a manner as to leave no discretion on the issue."
The remaining documents fall less obviously within the scope of Rule 6(e) and Exemption 3. Although the Third Cunningham Declaration contains greater detail, the Vaughn Index entries for Documents Nine, Eleven, Twelve, Fourteen, and Fifteen contain no mention of any connection to grand jury proceedings, despite the Department's assertion that Exemption 3 justifies the complete withholding of each of those records. Dkt. 40-1 at 53-56. The Vaughn Index, in contrast, describes Document Ten as a PowerPoint Presentation "marked Grand Jury Exhibit 1, [which] relates to the investigation, indictment and prosecution of Borda and his co-defendants." Id. at 54 (emphasis omitted). The index also notes the specific grand jury to which this document was presented. Id. The D.C. Circuit has held that even "potential documentary exhibits" presented to the grand jury are covered by Exemption 3, except in situations "where documentary information coincidentally before the grand jury would be revealed in such a manner that its revelation would not elucidate the inner workings of the grand jury." Fund for Constitutional Gov't ,
*318The Department has also properly withheld in full Document Thirteen, "a proposed" or "draft" indictment in Borda's criminal case, Dkt. 40-1 at 55; id. at 10 (Third Cunningham Decl. ¶ 22). The draft indictment contains and refers to information and testimony that "would have been presented or occurred before the grand jury investigating the criminal activities of the Plaintiff and his co-defendants." Id. at 8-10 (Third Cunningham Decl. ¶ 19, 22). That is "precisely the information that Rule 6(e) is intended to protect-information that 'would tend to reveal some secret aspect of the grand jury's investigation.' " Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Nat'l Archives & Records Admin. ,
The Department asserts in the Third Cunningham Declaration that the remaining withheld materials "consist of documents and records concerning testimony and other related information which would have been presented or occurred before the grand jury investigating the criminal activities of the Plaintiff and his co-defendants." Dkt. 40-1 at 10 (Third Cunningham Decl. ¶ 22). That may be right, but the declaration offers few details regarding the connection of most of those records to the grand jury. In light of this lack of detail, the Court declines to reach the question of whether Exemption 3 would justify the withholding of Documents Nine, Eleven, Twelve, Fourteen, and Fifteen, and turns instead to Exemption 5, which the Department has also invoked with respect to the remaining documents.
Exemption 5 permits agencies to withhold "inter-agency or intra-agency memorand[a] or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency."
*319the Court applies the " 'because of' test, asking whether, in light of the nature of the document and the factual situation in the particular case, the document can fairly be said to have been prepared or obtained because of the prospect of litigation."
Exemption 5 straightforwardly covers the remaining documents because each was created during or in preparation for the criminal prosecution of Borda and his co-defendants. Document Nine consists of "handwritten notes containing references to witnesses and what the witness could be expected to testify about[ ] [and] an outline and/or overview of the criminal case, investigation and prosecution prepared for use in the grand jury." Dkt. 40-1 at 12 (Third Cunningham Decl. ¶ 28); accord id. at 53-54. Similarly, Document Fifteen contains "[t]yped and handwritten notes" that were prepared by a trial attorney assigned to Borda's criminal prosecution and "relate to the investigation and prosecution of Borda and his co-defendants." Id. at 56 (emphasis omitted). Documents Eleven and Twelve are "prosecution memos written by" a trial attorney on the prosecution team "seeking Section approval to proceed with an Indictment of the Plaintiff and his co-defendants." Id. at 10 (Third Cunningham Decl. ¶ 22). Both of these memoranda, moreover, are "incomplete" or "draft" versions. Id. at 54. Document Fourteen "is a draft affidavit which was prepared either by the DEA case agent or [a trial attorney]" that "contains references to confidential sources who contributed to the investigation and prosecution of Borda and his co-defendants." Id. (emphasis omitted). All of these materials "were prepared by or at the direction of an attorney ... in anticipation of the prosecution of the Plaintiff and his co-defendants" and "contain information constituting the legal analysis" of an attorney working on the prosecution, that attorney's "theory of the case being investigated and evaluation of the evidence," and the attorney's "assessments of facts and issues pertaining to the proposed Indictment of the Plaintiff and his co-defendants." Id. at 12-13 (Third Cunningham Decl. ¶¶ 29-30).
The Court, accordingly, concludes that Documents Nine, Eleven, Twelve, Fourteen, and Fifteen consist entirely of either "text concerning the mental impressions, conclusions, opinions, or legal theories of an attorney," or "factual materials prepared in anticipation of litigation," and thus were properly withheld in full under Exemption Five. Tax Analysts v. IRS ,
Document Fourteen presents a slightly different question because the Department is unsure whether it was created by an attorney working on the case or a Drug Enforcement Agency ("DEA") Special Agent. In the event this document was in fact prepared by an attorney, it falls comfortably within Exemption 5 for the reasons stated above-that is, because it is a document created by an attorney "in the course of an investigation that was undertaken with" Borda's criminal prosecution in mind. Boyd ,
CONCLUSION
For these reasons, the Court will GRANT the Department's renewed motion for summary judgment, Dkt. 40, and will DENY Borda's motion to amend, Dkt. 44.
A separate order will issue.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Christian BORDA v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, CRIMINAL DIVISION
- Cited By
- 11 cases
- Status
- Published