Bagwell v. U.S. Dep't of Justice
Bagwell v. U.S. Dep't of Justice
Opinion of the Court
Ryan Bagwell, an alumnus of Pennsylvania State University, filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") with the Executive Office for United States Attorneys ("EOUSA") seeking records related to investigations into allegations of child sexual abuse on the University's campus. The parties have now filed cross-motions for summary judgment concerning three aspects of EOUSA's response: (1) its search of email accounts in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, which oversaw a criminal investigation into the allegations;
*227(2) its referral of records to other agencies for review; and (3) its withholding of records under FOIA Exemptions 5 and 7(A). The Court concludes-for the second time in this case-that the Department of Justice has failed to carry its burden of detailing an adequate search. It also finds that the Department has improperly withheld a set of records that it referred to the Department of Education and has inadequately justified its withholding of a set of Pennsylvania state grand jury materials under Exemption 7(A). However, the Court will sustain all but one of the Department's withholdings under Exemption 5. The Court will, accordingly, grant and deny both motions in part.
I. Background
As this case has been here before, the Court will only briefly recount the relevant factual background. Both the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania (the "U.S. Attorney's Office") and the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office oversaw criminal investigations into allegations of child sexual abuse by former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. In addition, former FBI Director Louis Freeh and his law firm were retained by Penn State's Board of Trustees to conduct an internal investigation into the Sandusky matter. Seeking material related to those investigations, in April 2014, Plaintiff Ryan Bagwell filed a FOIA request with EOUSA for "any and all records of investigations between November 1, 2011 and [April 30, 2014] that pertain to allegations of child sexual abuse that occurred on the campus of The Pennsylvania State University." Compl. ¶ 5. When EOUSA failed to timely respond, Bagwell filed suit against EOUSA's parent agency, the Department of Justice.
After the suit was filed, EOUSA produced 517 pages of records to Bagwell and withheld another 104 pages. The parties then filed cross-motions for summary judgment, with Bagwell challenging the adequacy of the Department's search and its withholding of documents. The Court concluded that the Department had not provided enough information to allow for resolution of the motions at that juncture. Bagwell v. U.S. Dep't of Justice,
As to Bagwell's challenge to the adequacy of the search, the Court identified two concerns it had regarding the search performed. First, it was unclear whether or how the Department had searched the U.S. Attorney's Office email system for responsive emails. Id. at *2. Second, even though former Director Freeh had made public remarks indicating that his firm had communicated with the U.S. Attorney's Office regarding the investigation, the Department's search had not uncovered any such communications or related documents. Id. Because the Department's supporting declarations failed to address these concerns, the Court was left "in substantial doubt as to the sufficiency of the search." Id. Similarly, the Court held that the Department's Vaughn index and declarations were not adequately detailed to justify the withholdings it had made. Id. at *4-5. The Court therefore deferred resolution of the cross-motions and directed the Department to "conduct any necessary additional searches, and file a supplemental memorandum in support of its motion for summary judgment, including additional affidavits and a revised Vaughn index." Id. at *5.
Following that Order, the Department performed a second search, including one of the U.S. Attorney's Office email system. To conduct that search, the Department identified six staff positions that were most likely to have potentially responsive emails in their email accounts: the U.S. Attorney, the First Assistant U.S. Attorney, the Criminal Chief, the Deputy Criminal Chief, *228Assistant U.S. Attorney One, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Two. Second Simpson Decl. ¶ 11. It then searched these accounts for emails (and attachments) during the relevant time period containing four search terms: "Pennsylvania State University," "Child sexual abuse and Pennsylvania State University," "Sandusky," and "Freeh." Id. ¶ 12. Upon completion of its search, the Department produced an additional set of documents to Bagwell, while also making further withholdings.
After the second round of productions, the Department renewed its motion for summary judgment, filing supplemental declarations and Vaughn indices. See Def.'s Mem. P. & A. Supp. Renewed Mot. Summ. J. ("Def.'s MSJ").
II. Legal Standard
Summary judgment is appropriately granted if the moving party shows that there are no genuine issues of material fact and that they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c). FOIA cases "typically and appropriately are decided on motions for summary judgment." Def. of Wildlife v. U.S. Border Patrol,
The first such obligation an agency must fulfill is to conduct an adequate search for the requested records. See, e.g., Valencia-Lucena v. U.S. Coast Guard,
In addition, an agency must adequately justify any withholdings it makes under FOIA's exemptions from disclosure. Because FOIA "seeks 'to establish a general philosophy of full agency disclosure unless information is exempted under clearly delineated statutory language,' "
*229NLRB v. Sears, Roebuck & Co.,
III. Analysis
Bagwell levels three main challenges in his renewed motion for summary judgment. First, he once again challenges the adequacy of the Department's searches. Second, he contends that the Department's referral of a set of records to other agencies constitutes an unlawful withholding. And third, he challenges the Department's withholding of documents, primarily pursuant to Exemption 7(A) and Exemption 5.
The Court finds that that the Department's search efforts were inadequate because the search terms used were facially under-inclusive and thereby not reasonably calculated to uncover all responsive materials. As to the referred records, the Court finds that the records referred to the Department of Education constitute improperly withheld records. Finally, the Court finds that the Department has failed to adequately justify the withholding of certain Pennsylvania state grand jury materials under Exemption 7(A) but that it has adequately supported most of its other withholdings.
A. The adequacy of the search
Bagwell claims the Department's search efforts are still inadequate, despite its supplemental searches and declarations. He does not dispute that the Department searched for responsive emails, as the Court requested, nor does he argue that more or different email accounts should have been searched. Rather, Bagwell points to three specific indications of an inadequate search.
First, Bagwell claims that the Department produced only two emails with employees of former Director Freeh's law firm, which he argues is a "positive [indication] of overlooked materials." Pl.'s MSJ at 9-10. He relies on Valencia-Lucena v. U.S. Coast Guard,
Bagwell next contends the four search terms used to conduct the search were not reasonably selected to capture responsive documents.
Given the facial under-inclusivity of the term "Pennsylvania Search University," the Court finds that the Department has yet to show "beyond material doubt that its search was reasonably calculated to uncover all relevant documents." Ancient Coin Collectors Guild,
B. The referred records
In the course of responding to Bagwell's request, the Department referred a set of records it found in its search to other agencies, such as the Department of Education and the FBI, to review for responsiveness or withholdings. See Joint Status Report (filed May 1, 2017). Bagwell challenges these referrals as improper withholdings under FOIA.
As the D.C. Circuit has recognized, when an agency receives a FOIA request it "cannot simply refuse to act on the ground that the documents originated elsewhere." McGehee v. CIA,
The parties confirmed at the hearing that all but one of the agencies that received referred records has responded to Bagwell by either producing the documents or asserting exemptions to justify withholdings. Any claim as to these documents is thus moot, since Bagwell has either received his requested records or was in a position to challenge the basis for their withholding. He offers no reason why any response to his request could not come from the referral agency rather than the Department of Justice. In this respect, then, the Court will grant the Department's motion and deny Bagwell's.
That being said, Bagwell has not received a response from the Department of Education regarding the records referred to that agency. The Department of Justice contends that those records are similar to records that were the subject of a separate FOIA request Bagwell made directly to the Department of Education. See Bagwell v. U.S. Dep't of Education,
C. Challenges to withheld records
Finally, Bagwell challenges the Department's withholdings of records under Exemption 7(A), which protects certain law-enforcement records, and under Exemption 5, which protects records that fall within a civil litigation privilege.
1. Withholdings of Pennsylvania Attorney General materials under Exemption 7(A)
Bagwell first challenges the withholding of a set of documents related to the state grand jury proceedings. The second declaration from Assistant U.S. Attorney Simpson notes that the U.S. Attorney's Office withheld 243,000 pages of electronic grand jury records produced by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office pursuant to a court order and 1,307 pages of grand jury transcripts (which may or may not be part of the 243,000 pages of records). Second Simpson Decl. ¶¶ 30, 46. In its brief, the Department does not identify any exemptions aside from 7(A) that it is asserting as to these materials.
Exemption 7(A) of FOIA protects from disclosure "records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes" whose release "could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings."
*232Sussman v. U.S. Marshals Service,
The D.C. Circuit has recognized that an agency can make the requisite showing under Exemption 7(A) on a categorical, as opposed to document-by-document, basis. See, e.g., Bevis v. Dep't of State,
Setting aside the first two requirements for categorical withholding, the Department has not met its burden under the third requirement here.
The Simpson declaration certainly establishes the ongoing nature of the criminal proceeding. See, e.g., DeMartino v. FBI,
As in these cases, the Simpson Declaration provides only a conclusory statement that interference would occur without any discussion of how it would occur. After all, the mere fact that these records were part of the grand jury proceeding and are confidential does not explain how the release of the records would interfere with the ongoing proceeding. This is particularly so given the post-conviction stage of the Sandusky proceedings and the fact that some material from the grand jury proceeding has now become public knowledge following the completed trials-any claim of a need to protect possible evidence for trial is hollow if that evidence has already been publicly disclosed and admitted at trial, for instance. Without a discussion of the way in which release of this information would jeopardize the still-pending proceedings, the Department has failed to meet its burden under Exemption 7(A).
Accordingly, the Court will require the Department-should it wish to continue to maintain its Exemption 7(A) assertion-to provide more fulsome declarations that adequately support the exemption's applicability. The Court will also remind the Department to take account of the current status of the enforcement proceedings when making any further justification for that exemption. Cf. North,
2. Withholdings in the Vaughn index under Exemption 5
Bagwell next raises a challenge to documents withheld and listed in the Department's Vaughn index. The government withheld a set of documents in full under Exemption 5-asserting both the attorney work-product privilege and the deliberative process privilege-as well as other documents in part under Exemption 5 and Exemptions 6 and 7(C).
But first, some legal background. Exemption 5 of FOIA protects from disclosure "inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency."
The attorney work-product privilege "protects written materials lawyers prepare 'in anticipation of litigation.' " In re Sealed Case,
The deliberative process privilege, in contrast, is intended to protect the government decision-making process, primarily by "assur[ing] that subordinates within an agency will feel free to provide the decisionmaker with their uninhibited opinions and recommendations." Coastal States Gas Corp. v. Dep't of Energy,
a. Applicability of the attorney work-product privilege
Bagwell first argues that the Department has not justified the applicability of the attorney work-product privilege because it has not met the requirement to show that the withheld documents were prepared in anticipation of litigation. In particular, Bagwell contends that the Department has failed to "identify a 'specific claim' in an enforcement action that caused the document's creation." Pl.'s MSJ at 15. This argument misses the mark.
For one, the D.C. Circuit has rejected the "specific claim" test that Bagwell advances. In NACDL, the D.C. Circuit explained that it has "long held that there is no general, overarching requirement that a governmental document can fall within the work-product privilege only if prepared in anticipation of litigating a specific claim."
Applying the proper standard, the Department has adequately justified that the documents were prepared in reasonable anticipation of litigation. A declaration submitted by Princina Stone, an attorney with EOUSA, attests that the withheld documents were prepared by the U.S. Attorney's Office while that office "was investigating claims of child sex abuse[ ] [on] campus." Second Supplemental Stone Decl. ¶ 51. In other words, the documents were created by attorneys during a law enforcement investigation into allegations of specific illegal activity (child sex abuse and concealing such abuse) by specific people (Sandusky and others at the University). The D.C. Circuit has held that "where an attorney prepares a document in the course of an active investigation focusing upon specific events and a specific possible violation by a specific party, it has litigation sufficiently 'in mind' for that document to qualify as attorney work product." SafeCard Servs.,
b. Challenges to documents withheld in full
Bagwell next challenges certain specific documents the Department withheld, either in part or in full. As to the first category, the Department withheld several documents in full, asserting the deliberative process privilege and the attorney work-product privilege. Bagwell contests the withholding of seven of these documents-numbered 1, 2, 3, 6, 11, 12 and 17 in Bagwell's annotated Vaughn index. See Pl.'s MSJ Ex. M.
Most of these documents clearly fall within the scope of the attorney work-product privilege. Documents 1, 2, 3, 6, and 12 are described in the Vaughn index as emails among government attorneys assigned to the Sandusky investigation that involve discussions of tactics, legal strategies and theories, and investigative techniques. Ms. Stone's declaration similarly attests that these documents are "email communications between the government attorneys, memoranda circulated among [the U.S. Attorney's Office] legal team, [and] attorney typed and hand written notes" all of which "consist[ ] of the thoughts and impressions of the legal team." Stone Second Decl. ¶ 53. Such documents clearly fall within the scope of the attorney work-product privilege.
Bagwell's challenge to these documents mostly reiterates his earlier argument against the applicability of the work-product privilege altogether: the documents were prepared too early in the investigation and, as such, litigation was not reasonably contemplated. Pl.'s MSJ at 21-24. This argument is no more persuasive here. Because the attorneys prepared these documents during a law enforcement investigation into specific allegations of illegal conduct by specific individuals, with the intention of bringing criminal charges if those allegations were substantiated, they were prepared in reasonable anticipation of litigation.
As to the other two documents, the question is a bit closer. One of these, however-Document 11 on Bagwell's annotated Vaughn index-falls within the scope of the deliberative process privilege, meaning the Court need not resolve the question of its status under the work-product privilege. This document is described as a variety of unsigned draft letters by the U.S. Attorney's Office. The Stone Declaration clarifies that these email chains included *236"back and forth pre-decisional communications among the AUSAs and law enforcement personnel." Second Stone Decl. ¶ 57. This confirms that the emails are both predecisional (as drafts) and deliberative, and therefore withholding was proper under the deliberative process privilege.
This leaves Document 17, which is described in the Vaughn index as a series of "Grand Jury Subpoenas letters issued to individuals and businesses." Based upon this rather vague description, the Court is unable to determine whether they are covered by the attorney work-product privilege. As such, the Court will order the Department to submit two representative samples of these letters for in camera review.
c. Documents withheld in part
Additionally, Bagwell challenges five sets of documents withheld in part. He specifically challenges redactions to these documents made under the deliberative process and work-product privileges. See Pl.'s MSJ at 25-29.
The Court concludes that the Department has adequately justified its withholding under the work-product privilege. The descriptions of these documents in the Vaughn index state that the Department redacted discussions concerning the legal strategies, theories, and opinions from government attorneys in the ongoing investigation, making these discussions protected by the work-product privilege.
* * *
IV. Conclusion
For the foregoing reasons, the Court will grant in part and deny in part both motions for summary judgment. It will deny both motions without prejudice as to both the adequacy of the search and the Department's withholding under Exemption 7(A), and will require the Department to perform a further adequate search and provide further justification for withholding the Pennsylvania state grand jury materials. The Court will grant the Department summary judgment as to the records referred to agencies other than the Department of Education, but will grant Bagwell summary judgment as to records referred to the Department of Education and will require those records be produced or an explanation for withholding provided. Finally, the Court will grant summary *237judgment for the Department on its other withholdings under Exemption 5 except for the "subpoenas letters"(which it will review in camera ).
A separate Order shall accompany this Memorandum Opinion.
In the process of preparing this revised Vaughn index, the Department discovered approximately 260,800 pages of electronic records that it had neglected to produce. See Simpson Decl. ¶ 10. The Court declined to stay the current round of summary judgment briefing until production of the newly-discovered records was complete, instead bifurcating summary judgment to allow this round of briefing to move forward. See Order (July 19, 2017).
As the Court understands it, the search term "Pennsylvania State University" would also have found any documents responsive to the search team "Pennsylvania State University and child sex abuse," since the shorter term is fully contained within the longer term. Thus, the Department, in effect, used three search terms, not four.
If technically feasible, the Department might consider using Boolean search terms to limit the number of unresponsive documents returned. For example, the Department could search for ("PSU" OR "Penn State" OR "Pennsylvania State University") AND (child! OR abuse).
Bagwell's third complaint about the adequacy of the search is that the search terms did not include a reference to Sandusky's charity The Second Mile, in connection with which much of the alleged abuse took place. Because the Court is requiring a further search of the U.S. Attorney's Office emails, it will defer resolution of this point to enable the parties to consider the issue in their discussions concerning additional search terms.
The Department's Vaughn index does assert Exemption 7(D) solely as to the 1,307 pages of transcripts. But because the Department did not argue in support of that exemption in its brief, the Court will reserve on its applicability until both parties have an opportunity to brief that issue.
The Court will note that other decisions have dealt with a "grand jury materials" category of documents before, indicating that the Department can create such a functional category of documents. See, e.g., Sussman,
The Department's brief makes additional assertions of harms that might flow from the release of information, such as intimidating witnesses or jeopardizing new trial strategies. Def.'s MSJ at 4. But these harms are unsubstantiated because none of them appear in the Simpson Declaration that the Department cites to in support of these assertions in its brief.
Exemptions 6 and 7(C) protect certain types of documents whose disclosure would constitute an unwarranted invasion of privacy. See
The Department has also claimed that Exemption 7(C) protects certain personal information in these letters, such as the names and addresses of recipients or government attorneys. Exemption 7(C) protects documents "compiled for law enforcement purposes" whose release "could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."
At the hearing, the Court indicated that it was unable to match two of the sets of emails-the third and fifth items challenged by Bagwell-to their entries in the Vaughn index. The Department has clarified that those sets of emails are part of the emails regarding newspaper articles, in the entry beginning on page 23 of the Vaughn index.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Ryan BAGWELL v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
- Cited By
- 21 cases
- Status
- Published