Gatore v. U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec.
Gatore v. U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec.
Opinion of the Court
Catholic Charities and eight individual plaintiffs initiated this putative class action against the defendant, the United States Department of Homeland Security, under the Freedom of Information Act (the "FOIA"),
I. BACKGROUND
As explained in the Court's prior opinions and orders in this case, plaintiff Catholic Charities submitted FOIA requests to the defendant on behalf of each of the eight individual plaintiffs, requesting, inter alia, the individual plaintiffs' assessments, see, e.g., Am. Compl. ¶¶ 10, 12; see also Def.'s Facts ¶¶ 1-8, which "are documents *82prepared by asylum officers" after interviewing an applicant for asylum and that "contain[, inter alia,] their opinion about whether an applicant should receive asylum or, instead, be referred to an immigration judge for removal proceedings," Def.'s Facts ¶ 10; see also Pls.' Reply to Def.'s Facts ¶ 10 (asserting that the assessments also "contain facts"). Although the defendant initially disclosed some documents in response to the individual plaintiffs' FOIA requests, see Supp. Eggleston Decl. ¶ 12, it withheld in full the assessments prepared in each of the individual plaintiffs' cases, see Pls.' Facts ¶¶ 20-21; see also Supp. Eggleston Decl. ¶¶ 11-12. Consequently, on March 31, 2015, the plaintiffs filed this action, alleging that the defendant had violated the FOIA by (1) refusing to release "the first several paragraphs" of each assessment, see, e.g., Am. Compl. ¶¶ 11, 35, which contain information regarding the applicants' "biography, basis of claim [for asylum], and testimony [presented to the asylum officer]" (the "factual introductory paragraphs"), Pls.' Summ. J. Opp'n at 2; and (2) by having "a [blanket] policy and practice of never providing any part of an [a]ssessment to a FOIA requester," Am. Compl. ¶ 14, and "not even attempting to determine if there are reasonably segregable portions of an [a]ssessment,"
Thereafter, the plaintiffs filed their motion for class certification, which requests that the Court certify a class of "all persons who, since March 30, 2009, have made, or will make during the pendency of th[e] [plaintiffs'] lawsuit, a FOIA request for the [a]ssessment of their asylum officer, but were provided no portion of the [a]ssessment." Pls.' Class Cert. Mot. at 1.
On July 28, 2015, the defendant moved for summary judgment on the individual plaintiffs' claims regarding their requests for production of their assessments, asserting that it had properly withheld the assessments in their entirety pursuant to the deliberative process privilege of Exemption 5 of the FOIA. See Def.'s 1st Summ. J. Mem. & Class Cert. Opp'n at 7. In support of its position, the defendant relied on a declaration from Jill A. Eggleston, the Assistant Center Director in the FOIA and Privacy Act Unit of the National *83Records Center of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services ("USCIS"), see Eggleston Decl. ¶ 1, in which she concluded that "[t]he factual portions of the assessment[s] ... cannot be severed or segregated from [their] context and thus must remain exempt from disclosure ... pursuant to Exemption 5 of the FOIA,"
In the Court's memorandum opinion issued on April 6, 2016, it denied the defendant's initial summary judgment motion due to the following concerns with the defendant's position that factual portions of the assessments were not reasonably segregable:
First, the Eggleston Declaration discusses the segregability of the assessments in a categorical fashion, as opposed to providing a description of the assessments prepared in each of the individual plaintiffs' cases. See Eggleston Decl. ¶¶ 17, 19, 20 (discussing the assessments in general). The Court is therefore unable to conduct a de novo assessment of the agency's determination of segregability as to each of the individual plaintiffs' requests.5 U.S.C. § 552 (a)(4)(B) (upon judicial review, "the court shall determine the matter de novo ...."). Second, the defendant's representation that it conducted a "line-by-line examination" of each of the assessments to determine whether any portions were reasonably segregable, Eggleston Decl. ¶ 20, is seemingly undermined by what appears to be the defendant's blanket policy not to release any portion of an assessment, irrespective of its contents, see Pls.' Suppl. Partial Summ. J. Mem., Ex. A at 1, 2 (indicating that assessments should be withheld in full)....
[Additionally, t]he courts in Gosen v. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services,118 F.Supp.3d 232 (D.D.C. 2015), and Abtew v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security,47 F.Supp.3d 98 (D.D.C. 2014), aff'd808 F.3d 895 (D.C. Cir. 2015), which both involved the same type of assessment at issue here, ordered the defendant to provide the withheld assessments for in camera review and thereafter concluded that some portions were reasonably segregable. See Gosen,118 F.Supp.3d at 243 ("The Court has reviewed the documents in question and finds that there is at least some factual material that may not expose the deliberative process. For example, both assessments begin with factual introductory information."); Abtew,47 F.Supp.3d at 114 ("After reviewing the Assessment in camera, the Court concludes that the first six paragraphs simply recite and summarize the facts that [the] plaintiff presented to the [asylum officer] during his asylum application interview. Those paragraphs do not include any analysis or impressions, and they do not reflect the [asylum officer's] deliberative process: although the document does not purport to be a verbatim rendition of the interview, and there may have been some streamlining involved, the summary does not involve the sort of culling of facts from a large universe that could be characterized as deliberative." (citing Ancient Coin Collectors[ Guild v. U.S. Dep't of State ], 641 F.3d [504,] 513 [ (D.C. Cir. 2011) ] ). The Court is persuaded by Gosen and Abtew that there may be some portion of the assessments at issue in this case that contain factual information that may be reasonably segregated from the whole.
Gatore v. U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec.,
On May 27, 2016, in response to the Court's Order, the defendant filed a supplemental declaration from Eggleston. See generally Supp. Eggleston Decl. Eggleston represented that each of the seven assessments then at issue in this case "contain[ed] three sections[:] an introduction, an analysis section[,] and a conclusion / recommendation section," and that "[t]he introduction section is not a verbatim transcript of information provided by [the] plaintiff[ ]s but reflects a selective recording of information the USCIS asylum officer deemed particularly pertinent to [each] plaintiff's request for asylum, and therefore, focused specifically on select information." Id. ¶ 12. She further represented that each assessment had received "two levels of review," id. ¶ 11, including an initial review by "USCIS staff," id. ¶ 5, and "a second review in the administrative appeals process by the USCIS Office of Chief Counsel," id. ¶ 10, and that following this review process, "a determination was made that the factual portions of the assessment[s] to refer c[ould ]not be severed or segregated from [their] context[s] and thus must remain exempt from disclosure," id. ¶ 11.
On February 8, 2017, the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint, see Am. Compl. at 1, which added a new cause of action regarding an eighth individual plaintiff, Veronica Carolina Lemus Miranda, who also sought production of portions of her assessment, see id. ¶¶ 72-74. Shortly thereafter, on March 14, 2017, the defendant released limited portions of the assessments to the seven individual plaintiffs who originally brought this case. See Pls.' Facts ¶¶ 23-24; see also Pls.' April 2017 Report, Ex. 1 (Release of Information from [Seven] Assessments on March 14, 2017 ("March 2017 Production") ). Specifically, the defendant released the first paragraph of each of the assessments for plaintiffs Rica Gatore, Isam Al Timemy, Aminata Ouedraogo, Herve Shyaka, and Charly Minth Ayessa, and the first two paragraphs of each of the assessments for plaintiffs Innocent Kabano Shyaka and Georgine Lumonika. See Pls.' April 2017 Report, Ex. 1 (March 2017 Production) at 2-8.
A few months later, on June 9, 2017, the defendant filed its renewed motion for summary judgment. See Def.'s Summ. J. Mot. at 1. On that same date, the defendant also released the first three paragraphs of the assessment for plaintiff Lemus Miranda. See Pls.' Facts ¶ 24; see also id., Ex. 1 (Declaration of David L. Cleveland (June 15, 2017) ("June 2017 Cleveland Decl.") ), Attachment ("Att.") C (Portions of Assessment of Ms. Lemus Miranda, Released on June 9, 2017). It simultaneously submitted a second and third supplemental declaration from Eggleston, both which acknowledged the defendant's decision to release information from the eight individual plaintiffs' assessments, in particular, "limited information relating to the asylum applicant's biographical information" contained in "the opening paragraph(s)." 2d Supp. Eggleston Decl. ¶ 3; see also 3d Supp. Eggleston Decl. ¶ 9 (representing that "[o]n further review, it was determined that USCIS could release limited factual information from the introductory portion" of the assessment for plaintiff Lemus Miranda).
*85On January 4, 2018, following its review of the three supplemental Eggleston declarations and the parties' additional submissions, the Court ordered the defendant to submit the individual plaintiffs' assessments to the Court for in camera review. See Gatore v. U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec.,
although [it] [wa]s satisfied that the defendant ha[d] reviewed each assessment individually in this case, see Supp. Eggleston Decl. ¶ 12, and the defendant ha[d] now released to the plaintiffs certain "biographical" information contained in each assessment, [ ] 2d Supp. Eggleston Decl. ¶ 3, ... for several reasons [ ] the supplemental declarations again preclude[d] it from making a de novo determination as to whether the defendant ha[d] fulfilled its obligation to disclose all reasonably segregable material, see Gatore [I],177 F.Supp.3d at 53 .
... [Specifically, i]t appears that the information the defendant has disclosed represents only a fraction of the factual material that the Abtew and Gosen courts determined could be released.... And since this Court issued its Memorandum Opinion [in Gatore I ], a third member of this Court has [ ] reviewed an assessment in camera and [ ] concluded that the defendant could reasonably segregate several introductory paragraphs, including paragraphs that "recit[e] and summar[ize] [the plaintiff's asylum] application." Bayala[ v. U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec.], 264 F. Supp. 3d [165, 177 (D.D.C. 2017) ] ; see alsoid. at 176-77 ... (ordering the defendant to release "the first eight paragraphs" of the assessment). Here, ... the defendant has released only the first one or two paragraphs in each assessment, which contain a limited set of facts, such as the plaintiff's age, citizenship, immigration status, date and location of entry into the United States, and information regarding the logistics of a plaintiff's asylum interview. See Pls.' [April 2017] Report, Ex. 1 (March [ ] 2017 [Production] ). But see Pls.' Facts, Ex. 1 ( [June 2017] Cleveland Decl.), Att. C (Portions of Assessment of Ms. Lemus Miranda, Released on June 9, 2017) (releasing limited additional information regarding the basis for plaintiff Lemus Miranda's asylum application). The defendant has not released any paragraphs summarizing the content of a plaintiff's testimony during an asylum application interview or the factual content of a plaintiff['s] asylum application supporting the plaintiff's asylum claim.
The supplemental Eggleston declarations fail to adequately explain why the defendant has not disclosed the additional factual paragraphs that the Abtew, Gosen, and Bayala courts determined could be released....
Id. at 491-92.
On January 10, 2018, in accordance with the Court's January 4, 2018 Order, the defendant submitted the individual plaintiffs' assessments for in camera review. See Def.'s In Camera Notice at 1. The Court having now examined the assessments, the parties' pending motions are now ripe for review.
II. STANDARDS OF REVIEW
A. Summary Judgment
The Court must grant a motion for summary judgment "if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). When ruling on a motion for summary judgment, the Court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party.
*86Holcomb v. Powell,
FOIA cases are typically resolved on motions for summary judgment. Ortiz v. U.S. Dep't of Justice,
B. Class Certification
Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23, " '[a] class action may be maintained' if two conditions are met: The suit must satisfy the criteria set forth in subdivision (a) (i.e., numerosity, commonality, typicality, and adequacy of representation), and it also must fit into one of the three categories described in subdivision (b)." Shady Grove Orthopedic Assocs., P.A. v. Allstate Ins. Co.,
III. ANALYSIS
A. The Individual Plaintiffs' Requests for the Reasonably Segregable Portions of Their Assessments
The defendant first seeks summary judgment on the individual plaintiffs' requests for the factual introductory paragraphs in their assessments. As explained in the Court's prior memorandum opinions, the parties do not dispute that at least some portion of each assessment at issue in this case is protected from disclosure pursuant to the deliberative process privilege of Exemption 5, see, e.g., Gatore II,
Under the FOIA, the Court must determine de novo whether agency records have been properly withheld. See
Upon in camera review of the plaintiffs' assessments, the Court agrees with the plaintiffs that a number of factual introductory paragraphs in each assessment do not qualify for protection under Exemption 5. As the Gosen, Abtew, and Bayala Courts found, these paragraphs "simply recite and summarize the facts that [the] plaintiff[s] presented to the [asylum officer] during [their] asylum application interview[s]," Abtew,
Additionally, the Court concludes that these paragraphs are not "inextricably intertwined with exempt portions," and as such are reasonably segregable and must be produced. Wilderness Soc'y,
B. Catholic Charities' Policy-or-Practice Claims
The defendant also seeks summary judgment on Catholic Charities' "policy-or-practice" claims, see Def.'s Summ. J. Mem. at 15-18, which are claims that the *90defendant has "a policy or practice of delayed disclosure or some other failure to abide by the terms of the FOIA" that "will impair [the plaintiffs'] lawful access to information in the future," Payne Enters., Inc. v. United States,
1. Standing
The defendant argues that Catholic Charities lacks standing to bring either of its policy-or-practice claims because it has failed to "establish ... concrete likelihood of injury." Def.'s Summ. J. Mem. at 17. Specifically, it argues that Catholic Charities' allegations that it "has made many *91FOIA requests for [a]ssessments of asylum applicants in the past, and will continue to do so in the future," id. (quoting Am. Compl. ¶ 56), are the type of "general statements ... [that] do not establish ... concrete likelihood of injury[, which] emanates from allegations of specific, pending FOIA requests that are likely to be subject to an agency's challenged policies," id. (quoting Nat'l Sec. Counselors v. CIA,
"The 'irreducible constitutional minimum of standing contains three elements': (1) injury-in-fact, (2) causation, and (3) redressability," Nat'l Ass'n of Home Builders v. EPA,
To survive a challenge to standing at the summary judgment stage, a plaintiff may "no[t] [ ] rest on ... mere allegations, but must set forth by affidavit or other evidence specific facts, which for purposes of the summary judgment motion will be taken to be true." Swanson Grp. Mfg. LLC v. Jewell,
Additionally, Catholic Charities has proffered evidence demonstrating that it is "likely to be subjected to the [alleged] polic[ies] again." Haase,
*93Operations, to David L. Cleveland (Dec. 13, 2016) ) (representing that as of December 13, 2016, the defendant had "completed [its] review of all documents" responsive to Catholic Charities' FOIA request and "released" documents), viewing the record in the light most favorable to Catholic Charities, as the Court must, see Holcomb,
*94Additionally, the record supports Catholic Charities' assertion that it "will continue to ... [make FOIA requests for assessments] in the future." Pls.' Facts ¶ 25. Catholic Charities' evidence shows that as of the date it filed its motion for class certification, it had submitted forty-one FOIA requests for assessments to the defendant, see Pls.' Class Cert. Mot., Ex. 1 (June 2015 Cleveland Decl.) at 1-2, and that since then, it has made twenty new requests for assessments, see Pls.' April 2017 Report, Ex. 2 (April 2017 Cleveland Decl.) at 1. Moreover, filing FOIA requests for assessments appears to be critical to Catholic Charities' stated mission of "help[ing] asylum applicants[ ] by [filing] FOIA requests" and "monitor[ing] and examin[ing] the word of asylum officers[ ] to ensure that all asylum applicants obtain justice." Pls.' Facts ¶ 26. These facts, which the Court must "take[ ] to be true," Swanson Grp. Mfg. LLC,
The defendant has made no response to Catholic Charities' arguments regarding standing, see generally Def.'s Reply, and thus, merely relies on its initial position that Catholic Charities has not satisfied its burden to establish likelihood of future injury under the standard articulated in National Security Counselors II and Tipograph. See Def.'s Summ. J. Mem. at 17 (first citing Nat'l Sec. Counselors II,
For all of the foregoing reasons, the Court concludes that Catholic Charities has identified specific facts demonstrating that it is likely to be subjected to the defendant's alleged policies and practices in the future. Consequently, the defendant has failed to demonstrate that Catholic Charities lacks standing to challenge its alleged policies and practices.
2. The Merits of Catholic Charities' Policy-or-Practice Claims
i. The Defendant's Alleged Policy and Practice of Never Providing Any Part of Assessments to FOIA Requesters
The defendant raises two additional arguments for why the Court must grant it summary judgment on Catholic Charities' challenge to an alleged "policy and practice of never providing any part of an [a]ssessment to a FOIA requester." Am. Compl. ¶ 14.
Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Catholic Charities, it is clear to the Court that Catholic Charities has satisfied its burden to identify specific facts "such that a reasonable [factfinder] could return a verdict for [it]" on this particular policy-or-practice claim. Grosdidier,
TITLE/SUBJECT FOIA EXEMPTION PA EXEMPTION Assessment to reject/terminate, grant or Withhold in full (b)(5) (d)(5) and (b)(5) refer (relates to Asylum)
*96Records Received on June 18, 2017 from the DHS (July 26, 2017) ("Dr. Ella Cleveland Decl.") ), Att. B (15 Pages Concerning "Administrative Appeals" Printed from the Disc Attached to the DHS Letter of June 18, 2017 ("June 2017 Production") ) at 10 ("The asylum officer's Assessment to Refer ... [is] to be held in full"); see also
Despite acknowledging that Appendix C of the FOIA Guide "does state that assessments ... are withheld in full," Eggleston nonetheless asserts that Catholic Charities "misconstrues th[e] [Appendix], and interprets it out of context[ ] as a strict direction to withhold the assessments." Supp. Eggleston Decl. ¶ 8. Specifically, she argues that the "Appendix C introductory paragraph states that the ... 'guidance [in the Appendix] does not comprehensively cover every scenario and cannot be used as a substitute for thought[,] ... [and] does not mean [a reviewer] must always use all [of] th[e] exemptions [referenced], or only those exemptions." Id.; see also Def.'s FOIA Guide Notice, Att. (FOIA Processing Guide) at 157. In addition, she cites a passage that appears earlier in the FOIA Guide that generally instructs FOIA processors to
segregate information that is exempt (cannot be released) from information that is non-exempt (can be released). If a document contains one piece of information that is not releasable, but the rest of the document is releasable, it is usually improper to withhold the entire page. If you are able to give the requester part of a page, you should. You should not fully withhold a page solely because it is more convenient.
Def.'s FOIA Guide Notice, Att. (FOIA Processing Guide) at 49. However, the defendant's attempt to qualify the instruction to withhold in Appendix C fails to acknowledge the numerous other documents produced by Catholic Charities reflecting instructions by the defendant to withhold assessments in full. See, e.g., Pls.' Supp. Summ. J. Opp'n, Ex. 2 (Dr. Ella Cleveland Decl.); Att. B (June 2017 Production) at 10 ("The asylum officer's Assessment to Refer ... [is] to be held in full.").
And critically, the defendant also ignores Catholic Charities' evidence that the defendant's FOIA reviewers have repeatedly denied requests for assessments, demonstrating that, notwithstanding any other language in Appendix C or general instructions elsewhere in the Guide, the defendant's FOIA processors have followed Appendix C's specific instructions to "[w]ithhold [assessments] in full," Def.'s FOIA Guide Notice, Att. (FOIA Processing Guide) at 159. Specifically, Catholic Charities' evidence demonstrates that in the nearly five-year period before the plaintiffs filed their amended complaint, the defendant denied over forty FOIA requests for assessments, including the requests submitted by the individual plaintiffs in this case.
Moreover, Eggleston's representations that "the [defendant's] policy includes a segregability review and instructions to release segregable information from assessments," Supp. Eggleston Decl. ¶ 8, and that, in this case, the defendant "reviewed all responsive documents pursuant to the [individual plaintiffs'] FOIA requests," id. ¶ 5, are insufficient to defeat Catholic Charities' evidence. Although "[i]n FOIA cases, '[s]ummary judgment may be granted on the basis of agency affidavits' in FOIA cases," such affidavits are not sufficient if "called into question by contradictory evidence in the record." Judicial Watch, Inc.,
The defendant next argues that Catholic Charities cannot show that the defendant's denials of FOIA requests for assessments violate the FOIA because it "cannot prove that assessments ... that are not even at issue in this case contain segregable information that must be released." Def.'s Reply at 8. The Court finds this point unpersuasive as well, given that Catholic Charities has identified specific evidence demonstrating that many, if not all, assessments contain reasonably segregable factual material that must be disclosed under the FOIA. As already discussed, three other members of this Court in Abtew, Gosen, and Bayala concluded after in camera reviews that the assessments at issue in those cases contained factual summaries of the applicants' claims and testimony that were reasonably segregable and therefore had to be disclosed. See Bayala, 264 F.Supp.3d at 177 (concluding that the defendant could reasonably segregate eight introductory paragraphs, including paragraphs that "recit[e] and summar[ize] ... [the plaintiff's asylum] application"); Gosen,
Additionally, Catholic Charities has submitted evidence demonstrating that many or all assessments contain content similar to the reasonably segregable factual content in the assessments at issue in Abtew, Gosen, Bayala, and this case. Specifically, Catholic Charities has provided excerpts from the defendant's asylum officer lesson plan instructing asylum officers to follow a "standard format" for assessments, see Pls.' 2d Supp. Class Cert. Mem., Ex. 1 (Declaration of David L. Cleveland (June 2, 2016) ("June 2016 Cleveland Decl."), Att. A (Asylum Officer Basic Training Lesson Plan) at 1, which requires a "[b]rief statement of" the "[b]asis of [the applicant's] [c]laim," as well as a "summary of ... the applicant's [testimony]," id., Ex. 1 (June 2016 Cleveland Decl.), Att. A (Asylum Officer Basic Training Lesson Plan) at 9. Moreover, Catholic Charities has provided copies or descriptions of fifteen different assessments, which demonstrate that each of these assessments contains factual introductory paragraphs that recite the relevant asylum applicant's claim and testimony presented to the asylum officer. See Am. Compl., Ex. 2 (Declaration of David L. Cleveland (Mar. 5, 2015) ("March 2015 Cleveland Decl.") ) (attaching copies of or describing ten assessments that were produced by the defendant in court proceedings *99or in response to Catholic Charities' FOIA requests in the period from 1998 to 2007); Pls.' January 2018 Report, Ex. 1 (Declaration of David L. Cleveland About Recently Received FOIA Responses (Jan. 20, 2018) ), Att. A (Assessment of Edmond Watungisa), Att. B (Assessment of Kaps Plamedi Kapende), Att. C (Assessment of Lisbeth Lilli Garcia Reyes); Pls.' FOIA Guide Objs., Ex. 1 (Declaration of David L. Cleveland About FOIA Response Received on January 26, 2018 (Mar. 17, 2018) ), Att. A (Assessment of Naw Hla Kyi); Pls.' June 2018 Report, Ex. 1 (Declaration of David L. Cleveland About FOIA Response Received on June 18, 2018 (June 28, 2018) ), Att. A (Assessment of Mohammed Al Qaraghuli).
The defendant finally argues that "numerous courts have upheld [fully] withholding[ ] [assessments] in the past," Def.'s Reply at 8 (citing Gatore I,
In sum, the Court concludes that Catholic Charities has satisfied its burden to identify specific facts "such that a reasonable [factfinder] could return a verdict for ... [it]" on its claim that the defendant has a policy and practice of not providing any part of an assessment to FOIA requesters in violation of the FOIA. Grosdidier,
ii. The Defendant's Alleged Policy and Practice of Not Even Attempting To Determine If There Are Reasonably Segregable Portions of Assessments
The defendant also seeks summary judgment on Catholic Charities' challenge to an alleged "policy and practice of not even attempting to determine if there are reasonably segregable portions of an [a]ssessment." Am. Compl. ¶ 25. Specifically, the defendant argues that Catholic Charities cannot establish that any such policy exists because "the record shows that [the d]efendant has a policy of reviewing assessments ... for segregable information." Def.'s Summ. J. Mem. at 17. As support, the defendant relies on the same evidence discussed above, namely, representations from Eggleston that its "policy includes a segregability review and instructions to release segregable information from assessments," Supp. Eggleston Decl. ¶ 8, and that, in this case, the defendant "reviewed all responsive documents pursuant to the [individual plaintiffs'] FOIA requests," id. ¶ 5, in addition to an excerpt from the FOIA Guide generally instructing the defendant's FOIA reviewers to release reasonably segregable material, see Def.'s FOIA Guide Notice, Att. (FOIA Processing Guide) at 49. Catholic Charities makes no specific response to the defendant's arguments regarding this claim, except to say that "[r]equestors do not care if 'review' is done; requesters want compliance with the FOIA." Pls.' Summ. J. Opp'n at 20.
The Court concludes for several reasons that it cannot award summary judgment to the defendant on the plaintiff's claim that the defendant has a policy or practice of not even attempting to determine if there are reasonably segregable portions of an assessment.
Moreover, the evidence referenced by the defendant does not negate the inference in Catholic Charities' favor that can be drawn from the evidence in the record. The cited FOIA Guide excerpt generally instructing FOIA reviewers to "segregate information that is exempt ... from information that is non-exempt," Def.'s FOIA Guide Notice, Att. (FOIA Processing Guide) at 49, does not foreclose the existence of an informal practice of not making segregability determinations when specifically reviewing assessments, see Payne Enters., Inc.,
Therefore, in light of the inference that may be drawn in Catholic Charities' favor, the defendant "simply cannot obtain [ ] summary judgment" on Catholic Charities' claim challenging the defendant's alleged policy or practice of not even attempting to determine if assessments contain reasonably segregable material. Celotex Corp., 477 U.S. at 330 n.2,
C. The Individual Plaintiffs' Motion for Class Certification
Having now resolved the defendant's summary judgment motion, the Court turns to the individual plaintiffs' motion for class certification. As already referenced, the eight individual plaintiffs in this case seek to bring their claims "on their own behalf and on behalf of [a] class of all other similarly situated individuals under the provisions of Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a) and (b) [ (2) ]." Am. Compl. ¶ 64.
"Inherent in Rule 23 is the requirement that the class representatives be members of the class." Virtue v. Int'l Bhd. of Teamsters Ret. & Family Prot. Plan,
Additionally, to the extent that the individual plaintiffs seek to challenge the defendant's alleged FOIA policies and practices, see, e.g., Pls.' Class Cert. Notice at 3 ("[Plaintiff] Gatore challenges the [defendant's] policy and practice of failing to disclose the segregable portions of asylum officer assessments."), the Court cannot conclude that they have satisfied the requirements to represent a class under Rule 23(b)(2), which provides that "[a] class action may be maintained if ... the party opposing the class has acted or refused to act on grounds that apply generally to the class, so that final injunctive relief or corresponding declaratory relief is appropriate respecting the class as a whole," Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(b)(2). "To represent a class under 23(b)(2), plaintiffs must have standing to obtain injunctive [or declaratory] relief," Does I Through III v. District of Columbia,
For these reasons, the Court concludes that the individual plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate that the requirements for class certification under Rule 23(a) and (b)(2) have been satisfied. See Richards,
IV. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, the Court concludes that the defendant has failed to demonstrate that it has disclosed all reasonably segregable portions of the individual plaintiffs' assessments, and therefore, *105the Court must deny the defendant's motion for summary judgment as to the individual plaintiffs' requests for the factual introductory paragraphs of their assessments. The Court will also sua sponte enter summary judgment for the individual plaintiffs as to these requests and order the defendant to disclose the first several paragraphs of each assessment as indicated in the Order accompanying this Memorandum Opinion. Additionally, the Court concludes that Catholic Charities has identified sufficient evidence for a reasonable factfinder to conclude that the defendant has a policy or practice of never providing any part of an assessment and not even attempting to determine if assessments contain reasonably segregable material. Thus, the Court must deny the defendant's motion for summary judgment as to Catholic Charities' policy-or-practice claims, as well. Finally, because the individual plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate that they are members of the putative class or that they have standing to obtain prospective injunctive or declaratory relief, the Court must deny the individual plaintiffs' request for class certification.
SO ORDERED this 24th day of August, 2018.
In addition to the filings already identified, the Court considered the following submissions in rendering its decision: (1) the Plaintiffs' Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support of Their Motion for Class Certification ("Pls.' Class Cert. Mem."), ECF No. 15; (2) the Declaration of Jill A. Eggleston ("Eggleston Decl."), ECF No. 22-1; (3) the Defendant's Me[m]orandum of Points and Authorities in Support of Its Motion for Summary Judgment, Opposition to Plaintiff[s'] Motion to Certify Class, and Opposition to Plaintiff[s'] Motion for Partial Summary Judgment ("Def.'s 1st Summ. J. Mem. & Class Cert. Opp'n"), ECF No. 23; (4) the Plaintiffs' Reply to DHS Opposition to Motion for Class Certification ("Pls.' Class Cert. Reply"), ECF No. 26; (5) the Plaintiffs' Supplemental Memorandum in Support of Their Motion for Class Certification ("Pls.' Supp. Class Cert. Mem."), ECF No. 33; (6) the Defendant's Response to Plaintiffs' Supplemental Memoranda, ECF No. 37; (7) the Plaintiff's Reply to DHS "Response," ECF No. 38; (8) the Supplemental Declaration of Jill A. Eggleston ("Supp. Eggleston Decl."), ECF No. 44-1; (9) the Plaintiffs' Supplemental Memorandum in Support of Their Motion for Class Certification ("Pls.' 2d Supp. Class Cert. Mem."), ECF No. 47; (10) the Plaintiffs' December 2016 Supplemental Memorandum in Support of Their Motion for Class Certification ("Pls.' 3d Supp. Class Cert. Mem."), ECF No. 61; (11) the Plaintiffs' Report to the Court (Apr. 17, 2017) ("Pls.' April 2017 Report"), ECF No. 73; (12) the Defendant's Statement of Material Facts as to Which There Is No Genuine Issue ("Def.'s Facts"), ECF No. 77-1; (13) the Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support of Defendant's Renewed Motion for Summary Judgment ("Def.'s Summ. J. Mem."), ECF No. 77-2; (14) the Second Supplemental Declaration of Jill A. Eggleston ("2d Supp. Eggleston Decl."), ECF No. 77-3; (15) the Third Supplemental Declaration of Jill A. Eggleston ("3d Supp. Eggleston Decl."), ECF No. 77-4; (16) the Plaintiffs' Opposition to the [Defendant's] Renewed Motion for Summary Judgment ("Pls.' Summ. J. Opp'n"), ECF No. 78; (17) the Plaintiffs' Reply to [the Defendant's] Statement of Material Facts as to Which There Is No Genuine Dispute ("Pls.' Reply to Def.'s Facts"), ECF No. 78-1; (18) the Plaintiffs' Statement of Genuine Issues and Statement of Material Facts That Are Necessary To Be Litigated ("Pls.' Facts"), ECF No. 78-2; (19) the defendant's Reply in Support of Defendant's Renewed Motion for Summary Judgment ("Def.'s Summ. J. Reply"), ECF No. 82; (20) the Plaintiffs' Supplement to ECF # 78-2 ("Pls.' Supp. Summ. J. Opp'n"), ECF No. 86; (21) the Plaintiffs' Notice of Additional Authority Concerning Segregability of Asylum Officer Assessments, ECF No. 92; (22) the defendant's Notice of In Camera Submission ("Def.'s In Camera Notice"), ECF No. 97; (23) the Plaintiffs' Report to the Court (Jan. 21, 2018) ("Pls.' January 2018 Report"), ECF No. 98; (24) the defendant's Notice of Filing ("Def.'s FOIA Guide Notice"), ECF No. 101; (25) the Plaintiffs' Objections to Recently-Filed "Complete" FOIA Processing Guide ("Pls.' FOIA Guide Objs."), ECF No. 102; (26) the Plaintiffs' Notice of Additional Authority Concerning Class Certification and Asylum Applicants ("Pls.' Class Cert. Notice"), ECF No. 104; and (27) the Plaintiffs' June 2018 Report to the Court ("Pls.' June 2018 Report"), ECF No. 106.
Because the plaintiffs did not insert page numbers on their class certification motion or many of their other filings in this case, the page numbers cited by the Court when referencing the plaintiffs' filings are the automatically-generated page numbers assigned to the plaintiffs' filings by the Court's ECF system.
The defendant attempts to support Eggleston's claim by asserting that "asylum officers are specifically instructed to exercise judgment when drafting [a] factual recitation [in an assessment] and to include only those facts that are material to th[eir] recommendation," Def.'s Summ. J. Mem. at 11, citing an asylum officer "lesson plan," which reminds asylum officers that "[a]n important aspect of streamlined writing is that the asylum officer is not required to 'show' all the information that he or she is required to 'know,' " see
The Court's sua sponte grant of relief regarding the individual plaintiffs' requests does not affect the Court's conclusion that the individual plaintiffs may not bring these requests or their other claims "on behalf of [a] class of all other similarly situated individuals under the provisions of Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a) and (b) [ (2) ]." Am. Compl. ¶ 64. As explained in Part III.C, infra, the Court concludes that the individual plaintiffs may not represent such a class for other reasons.
The defendant merely argues that "Catholic Charities' [policy or practice] claim[s] fail[ ]," Def.'s Summ. J. Mem. at 16; however, it appears that the individual plaintiffs also seek to bring these claims, see, e.g., Pls.' Class Cert. Notice at 3 ("In the instant case, [plaintiff] Gatore challenges the [defendant's] policy and practice of failing to disclose the segregable portions of asylum officer assessments." (emphasis added) ); Am. Compl. ¶ 67 (alleging that "common questions ... that relate to and affect the rights of each member of the [putative] class[ ] ... include ... whether the [defendant]'s continued pattern and practice of not making an attempt to determine whether there are portions [of assessments] that are reasonabl[y] segregable is unlawful"). Because the defendant has not addressed the individual plaintiffs' policy and practice claims, the Court need not decide whether summary judgment should be granted as to them. However, the Court notes that to the extent the individual plaintiffs intend to pursue these claims, for the reasons explained in Part III.C, infra, it appears that they would lack standing to do so.
Although Catholic Charities also refers to a "policy and practice of not providing reasonably segregable portions of assessments to FOIA requesters," Am. Compl. ¶ 70, it appears that this reference is an alternative characterization of the alleged "policy and practice of never providing any part of an [a]ssessment to a FOIA requester," id. ¶ 14. Because Catholic Charities uses only the latter characterization in its opposition to the defendant's summary judgment motion, see Pls.' Summ. J. Opp'n at 20, the Court will refer in this opinion only to the alleged "policy and practice of never providing any part of an [a]ssessment to a FOIA requester," Am. Compl. ¶ 14, with the understanding that this characterization is interchangeable with a "policy and practice of not providing reasonably segregable portions of assessments to FOIA requesters," id. ¶ 70.
The Court's estimate of the number of Catholic Charities' FOIA requests that were pending as of February 8, 2017, includes all FOIA requests for assessments submitted by Catholic Charities that are documented in the record, either with a copy of the FOIA request itself or a letter from the defendant acknowledging receipt of the request, see, e.g., Pls.' Class Cert Mot., Ex. 1 (June 2015 Cleveland Decl.) at 6 (copy of FOIA Request for Mamadou Badiane), and which have not yet been processed by the defendant, as evidenced by the absence of any documentation in the record indicating that the defendant has completed its review of documents responsive to the request.
Although the documentation provided in support of some of Catholic Charities' FOIA requests does not explicitly indicate that the requests seek assessments, see, e.g., Pls.' April 2017 Report, Ex. 2 (April 2017 Cleveland Decl.), Att. D (Letter from USCIS to David L. Cleveland (Feb. 13, 2017) ) (only acknowledging that Catholic Charities had made a "request for information relating to Kay T. Khine"), and the corresponding declarations from Catholic Charities' attorney also do not explicitly assert that the requests sought assessments, see, e.g., id., Ex. 2 (April 2017 Cleveland Decl.) at 2 (only generally representing that "FOIA requests" were made), the declarations do assert that the requests were made on behalf of asylum applicants who are "members of the class," see, e.g., id., Ex. 2 (April 2017 Cleveland Decl.) at 2. And, because the putative class includes "all persons who, since March 30, 2009, have made ... a FOIA request for the[ir] [a]ssessment," Pls.' Class Cert. Mot. at 1, and the Court must view the record in the light most favorable to Catholic Charities, see Holcomb,
The defendant argues that "Catholic Charities seems to have [ ] rewritten its policy-or-practice claim ... [and n]ow[ ] ... seems to say that what it really wants is not for the Court to order [the d]efendant to conduct a segregability review of assessments, but for the Court to order [the d]efendant to actually release information from certain assessments that are not at issue in this litigation." Def.'s Summ. J. Reply at 8 (citing Pls.' Summ. J. Opp'n at 20). However, the defendant mischaracterizes the plaintiffs' filings in this case. The plaintiffs' Amended Complaint challenges not only the defendant's alleged "policy and practice of not even attempting to determine if there are reasonably segregable portions of an [a]ssessment," Am. Compl. ¶ 25, but also the alleged "policy and practice of never providing any part of an [a]ssessment to a FOIA requester," id. ¶ 14. Moreover, neither the Amended Complaint nor the plaintiffs' opposition asks the Court to order the defendant to produce information from assessments not at issue in this litigation. See Am. Compl. at 16 (requesting that the Court "[o]rder [the] defendant to disclose the reasonably segregable portions of the [a]ssessment to each plaintiff" and "[e]njoin the defendant from failing to disclose such portions in the future" (emphasis added) ); Pls.' Summ. J. Opp'n at 20 (generally stating that "requesters want compliance with the FOIA"). Therefore, the Court concludes that the argument advanced by the defendant has no merit.
The Court's estimate of the number of Catholic Charities' FOIA requests for assessments denied by the defendant includes all requests for assessments (1) made on behalf of putative class members, i.e., persons who Catholic Charities represents have been "provided no portion of the [a]ssessment," Pls.' Class Cert. Mot. at 1, (2) made prior to the filing of the amended complaint and (3) that have already been processed by the defendant as indicated by evidence in the record, see, e.g., Pls.' April 2017 Report, Ex. 2 (April 2017 Cleveland Decl.), Att. A (Letter from Jill A. Eggleston, Director, FOIA Operations, to David L. Cleveland (Dec. 13, 2017) ) (representing that the defendant had "completed [its] review of all documents" responsive to the request and "released" any non-exempt documents or information).
The Court acknowledges that following the plaintiffs' initiation of this suit, the defendant produced limited factual content from the assessments at issue in this case in March and June of 2017, see Pls.' Facts ¶¶ 23-24; see also Pls.' April 2017 Report, Ex. 1 (March 2017 Production); Pls.' Facts, Ex. 1 (June 2017 Cleveland Decl.), Att. C (Portions of Assessment of Ms. Lemus Miranda, Released on June 9, 2017), and released several paragraphs from three assessments in response to FOIA requests from asylum applicants on December 2017, see Pls.' January 2018 Report at 1. However, any change in the defendant's conduct following the initiation of this suit is irrelevant to the question of whether the defendant "routinely employed [the alleged] policy ... , or whether the [defendant] could again opt to employ such a policy ... , which are the only pertinent questions at issue here." Muckrock, LLC,
The Court notes that Catholic Charities purports to attach copies of ten assessments to its Amended Complaint, see Am. Compl., Ex. 2 (March 2015 Cleveland Decl.) at 14-15 ¶ 5; however, it has only attached copies of two of the ten assessments, see
Although Catholic Charities' opposition does not explicitly oppose summary judgment on its claim challenging the alleged "policy and practice of not even attempting to determine if there are reasonably segregable portions of an [a]ssessment," Am. Compl. ¶ 25; see Pls.' Summ. J. Opp'n at 20 ("Requestors do not care if 'review' is done; requesters want compliance with the FOIA."); see also Pls.' Class Cert. Notice at 3 (asserting only that plaintiff "Gatore challenges the [defendant's] policy and practice of failing to disclose the segregable portions of asylum officer assessments," and not referencing the alleged policy of not even attempting to determine if there are reasonably segregable portions of assessments), the Court may not grant summary judgment to the defendant solely on the basis of the plaintiff's failure to oppose the motion, given this Circuit's instruction that "a district court must always determine for itself whether the record and any undisputed material facts justify granting summary judgment," Winston & Strawn, LLP v. McLean,
Catholic Charities "den[ies] that 'USCIS staff' performed a segregability review" on the assessments at issue in this case on the ground that Eggleston "does not identify the[ ] persons" who conducted the review. See Pls.' Reply Facts ¶¶ 13-14. However, this allegation fails because " '[a]gency affidavits are accorded a presumption of good faith' in th[e] [FOIA] context and cannot be rebutted by speculation of the sort proffered by [Catholic Charities]." Quick v. U.S. Dep't of Commerce, Nat'l Inst. of Standards & Tech.,
The Court's estimate of the number of Catholic Charities' FOIA requests for assessments that have been denied by the defendant includes all requests for assessments (minus the requests at issue in this case) that were (1) made on behalf of putative class members, i.e., persons who Catholic Charities represents have been "provided no portion of the [a]ssessment," Pls.' Class Cert. Mot. at 1; and (2) that have already been processed by the defendant as indicated by evidence in the record, see, e.g., Pls.' April 2017 Report, Ex. 2 (April 2017 Cleveland Decl.), Att. A (Letter from Jill A. Eggleston, Director, FOIA Operations, to David L. Cleveland (Dec. 13, 2016) ) (representing that the defendant had "completed [its] review of all documents" responsive to the request and "released" any nonexempt documents or information).
Although the Amended Complaint suggests that the individual plaintiffs seek certification of a class under both Rule 23(b)(2) and (b)(3), see Am. Compl. ¶¶ 70-71 (alleging that "[a]ll requirements of Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(b)(2) [and (3) ] have been met"), their class certification motion and subsequent filings only reference Rule 23(b)(2), see, e.g., Pls.' Class Cert. Mem. at 18-19 (not referencing Rule 23(b)(3) ). Therefore, the individual plaintiffs have done nothing to demonstrate that the requirements for class certification under Rule 23(b)(3) have been established, see Richards,
As the Third Circuit in Hayes explained, "different courts have asserted different origins for this axiom,"
Although neither party raised the issues of whether the individual plaintiffs are members of the putative class or whether they have standing to seek prospective injunctive or declaratory relief, the Court found it appropriate to raise these issues sua sponte in light of its "independent obligation to decide whether an action was properly brought as a class action." Doe v. U.S. Dep't of Labor,
The Court will contemporaneously issue an Order consistent with this Memorandum Opinion.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Rica GATORE v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
- Cited By
- 8 cases
- Status
- Published