Bloomgarden v. Nat'l Archives & Records Admin.
Bloomgarden v. Nat'l Archives & Records Admin.
Opinion of the Court
COLLEEN KOLLAR-KOTELLY, United States District Judge *71This lawsuit arises from a Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") request that Plaintiff Howard Bloomgarden made to Defendant National Archives and Records Administration ("NARA"). Plaintiff requested documents related to the 1995 termination of an Assistant United States Attorney ("AUSA"). In response to Plaintiff's FOIA request, Defendant identified three letters. Defendant eventually provided Plaintiff with one of the responsive letters but withheld the two remaining responsive letters, claiming that they fell under FOIA's Exemption 6 which protects "personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."
Upon consideration of the pleadings,
I. BACKGROUND
In his FOIA request, Plaintiff seeks to acquire letters regarding the potential misconduct and termination of former AUSA for the Eastern District of New York ("EDNY") Raymond Granger. Plaintiff's FOIA request stems from a 1995 joint state-federal investigation into Plaintiff's possible involvement in criminal acts, which eventually lead to Plaintiff pleading guilty in the EDNY. Pl.'s Statement of Facts, ECF No. [13-2], 3. Mr. Granger was the lead prosecutor for the investigation.
Plaintiff has requested the termination materials related to Mr. Granger based on the belief that the materials may show that Mr. Granger engaged in misconduct regarding certain proffers that Plaintiff made to the federal and Los Angeles County prosecutors when Mr. Granger was leading the investigation. Compl., ECF No. [1], ¶¶ 10-13. If the termination materials show misconduct on the part of Mr. Granger, Plaintiff intends to use such information to help his effort to get a new trial before the California state court, where he was convicted of murder in 2014. Pl.'s Statement of Facts, ECF No. [13-2], 3-4.
As part of his strategy in the California case, in 2007, Plaintiff initiated his first FOIA request seeking documents relating *72to Mr. Granger's termination. Pl.'s Mot, ECF No. [13-3], 12. The Department of Justice, which was in possession of a draft termination letter and related documents, withheld the documents as exempt under FOIA. In 2012, Plaintiff initiated suit seeking disclosure of the documents. The court ordered the release of approximately 3,600 pages of exhibits to the requested letter but concluded that the draft letter itself was exempt under FOIA.
In 2013, Plaintiff initiated a new FOIA request, this time requesting from NARA documents related to Mr. Granger's termination. Pl.'s Statement of Facts, ECF No. [13-2], 4. Defendant indicated that three responsive letters had been found and that all three letters would be released to Plaintiff. Pl.'s Ex. DD, ECF No. [13-7], 78-79. But Defendant later explained that, upon further review, the letters were exempt from FOIA under Exemption 6. Id. at 80. The archivist who had initially agreed to release the letters had been newly hired, and after her supervisor reviewed the request, the supervisor determined that disclosure of the letters would cause an unwarranted invasion of Mr. Granger's personal privacy under Exemption 6. Dec. of Martha Wagner Murphy, ECF No. [12-2], Ex. G. Accordingly, Defendant refused to release the three letters. But, on administrative appeal, Defendant agreed to release one of the letters, finding that only two of the letters met the requirements of Exemption 6. Id.
Plaintiff continues seeking disclosure of the two letters pertaining to Mr. Granger's termination from the U.S. Attorney's Office. In 2017, Plaintiff brought action in this Court, asking the Court to conclude that Exemption 6 is inapplicable because the release of the letters would not result in a clearly unwarranted invasion of Mr. Granger's privacy. Both parties have moved for summary judgment.
II. LEGAL STANDARD
Congress enacted FOIA to "pierce the veil of administrative secrecy and to open agency action to the light of public scrutiny." Dep't of the Air Force v. Rose ,
When presented with a motion for summary judgment in this context, the district court must conduct a "de novo" review of the record, which requires the court to "ascertain whether the agency has sustained its burden of demonstrating the documents requested are ... exempt from disclosure under the FOIA." Multi Ag Media LLC v. U.S. Dep't of Agriculture ,
III. DISCUSSION
Plaintiff does not challenge the adequacy of Defendant's search for responsive records to Plaintiff's FOIA request. As such, the sole issue before the Court is whether the two, undisclosed letters regarding the termination of Mr. Granger from the U.S. Attorney's Office fall under FOIA Exemption 6. The Court has reviewed the two letters in camera. Considering the arguments of the parties, as well as the Court's own review of the letters, the Court concludes that the letters fall under FOIA Exemption 6 and were rightfully withheld.
Exemption 6 to FOIA allows government agencies to withhold "personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."
Assuming the records at issue are of the type that fall within the ambit of Exemption 6, "the court must then determine whether their disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, which requires balancing the privacy interest that would be compromised by disclosure against any public interest in the requested information." Wisdom v. U.S. Tr. Program ,
Plaintiff does not appear to dispute whether the letters at issue are the type of "personnel" files that satisfy the threshold requirement of Exemption 6.
Because the two letters are the sort of documents potentially protected by Exemption 6, the Court must next determine whether disclosure of the two letters would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy. To decide whether disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy, the Court must balance Mr. Granger's privacy interest against the public's interest in having the information disclosed. See Wisdom ,
In balancing Mr. Granger's privacy interest against the public's interest, the Court considers Bloomgarden v. United States Dep't of Justice ,
Looking first to Mr. Granger's privacy interest in the letters, it is an "indisputable proposition that disclosure of information identifying a particular attorney as the subject of a ... disciplinary proceeding ... would violate substantial privacy interests of the attorney." Carter v. U.S. Dep't of Commerce ,
Plaintiff argues that, because Mr. Granger's termination occurred more than two decades ago, the passage of time has lessened Mr. Granger's privacy interest in the letters. But, the Court concludes that "[t]he passage of time, without more, does not materially diminish" Mr. Granger's privacy interest. Schrecker v. U.S. Dep't of Justice ,
*75And, plaintiff does not articulate additional factors which would lessen Mr. Granger's privacy interest. Mr. Granger's continuing privacy interest is especially apparent given that Mr. Granger is a currently-licensed, practicing attorney who would be interested in avoiding embarrassment and harm to his reputation and livelihood. Declaration of Martha Wagner Murphy, ECF No. [12-2], 10; see also Rose ,
Considering next the public's interest, the Court concludes that the public's interest in the two letters is relatively low. When the information requested through FOIA relates to the misconduct of federal employees, the Court considers the rank of the employee and the seriousness of the allegations. Kimberlin ,
While the negligent job performance and unremarkable misconduct of a lower-level employee is of little public concern, the public does have an interest in knowing how the agency or department in question dealt with the misconduct. Kimberlin ,
Even though the letters are dated, there can still be public interest in exposing historic government activity and misconduct. See, e.g., Rosenfeld v. U.S. Dep't of Justice ,
Considering both Mr. Granger's privacy interest and the public's interest in disclosure, the Court concludes that the equities weigh in favor of Mr. Granger's privacy interest. Exemption 6 protects personal information in an employee's file only if the disclosure of the information would create a "clearly unwarranted" invasion of privacy.
The Court finds that the above analysis applies equally to both of the requested letters. However, in his motion for summary judgment, Plaintiff attempts to distinguish the two letters. Plaintiff argues that, at a minimum, the April 4, 1997 letter should be disclosed as this letter relates to the "requesting of documents and the return of property," which does not implicate Mr. Granger's privacy interest. Pl.'s Mot, ECF No. [13-3], 17. But, the Court's review of this letter shows that the letter also contains sensitive material relating to the circumstances surrounding Mr. Granger's termination and to other private information in Mr. Granger's personnel file. Moreover, insofar as Plaintiff argues that the letter primarily concerns the return of property, the corresponding public interest in this information would be extremely low. Accordingly, both letters meet the requirements of FOIA Exemption 6.
The Court must make a separate finding as to whether any portion of the two letters withheld in their entirety could have been segregated and released. Trans-Pac. Policing Agreement v. United States Customs Serv. ,
IV. CONCLUSION
For the reasons stated above, the Court concludes that Plaintiff's two requested letters were rightfully withheld under Exemption 6 to FOIA. As such, the Court DENIES Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment and GRANTS Defendant's motion for summary judgment. A separate order accompanies this Memorandum Opinion.
The Court's consideration has focused on the following documents:
• Pl.'s Mem. Of Points and Authorities in Support of his Opp'n to Def.'s Mot. for Summary Judgment and in Support of his Cross Mot. for Summary Judgment, ECF No. [13-3] ("Pl.'s Mot.");
• Reply in Further Support of Def.'s Mot. for Summary Judgment; and Opp'n to Pl.'s Cross-Mot. for Summary Judgment, ECF No. [15] ("Def.'s Reply");
• Pl.'s Reply in Support of Cross Mot. for Summary Judgment, ECF No. [17] ("Pl.'s Reply").
In an exercise of its discretion, the Court finds that holding oral argument in this action would not be of assistance in rendering a decision. See LCvR 7(f).
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Howard BLOOMGARDEN v. NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION
- Status
- Published