Blajro v. Citizenship

811 F.3d 1086
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedOctober 23, 2015
DocketNos. 11-17948, 12-17765
StatusPublished
Cited by80 cases

This text of 811 F.3d 1086 (Blajro v. Citizenship) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Blajro v. Citizenship, 811 F.3d 1086 (9th Cir. 2015).

Opinions

Opinion by Judge TALLMAN; Partial Concurrence and Partial Dissent by Judge RAWLINSON.

ORDER

TALLMAN, Circuit Judge:

The panel has voted to amend its previous opinion and issues the following opinion to replace it. With this amendment, Judges Tallman and Murphy have voted to deny the Appellants’ petition for panel rehearing; Judge Rawlinson has voted to grant the Appellants’ petition for panel rehearing. The Appellants’ petition for panel rehearing is DENIED.

The panel has voted to deny the Appel-lees’ petition for panel rehearing; Judges Tallman and Rawlinson have voted to deny the petition for rehearing en banc and Judge Murphy so recommends. Appel-lees’ petition for rehearing and petition for rehearing en banc are DENIED.

The full court has been advised of the petition for rehearing en banc and no judge has requested a vote on whether to rehear the matter en banc. Fed. R.App. P. 35.

No further petitions for rehearing or petitions for rehearing en banc will be entertained.

OPINION

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and federal officer co-defendants (collectively “USCIS”) challenge the district court’s grant of summary judgment, a. permanent injunction, and an attorneys’ fees award in favor of Plaintiffs Mirsad Hajro and James R. Mayock. The district court found that USCIS engaged in a pattern or practice of violating the Freedom of Information Act’s (“FOIA”) time limits, 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(A), (B), (C) (2012). The statutory time limits require an agency to determine within twenty days whether to comply with a FOIA request or, in the alternative, notify the requester of any “unusual circumstances” requiring an extension in responding to the request. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(A), (B). If the agency fails to comply with either, a FOIA requester can proceed directly to district court where the agency must show “exceptional circumstances” justifying its untimeliness and due diligence in remedying the violation. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(C). USCIS also challenges the district court’s jurisdiction to enforce a 1992 Settlement Agreement entered into by attorney James Mayock and USCIS’s predecessor agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”).

We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 to review the summary judgment order. We dismiss USCIS’s challenge to the permanent injunction for lack of jurisdiction given its prematurely filed notice of appeal. We hold that while the district court may assert supplemental jurisdiction over the Settlement Agreement claims, Plaintiffs have failed to show an “unequivocally expressed” waiver of sovereign immunity. We clarify the standing requirements to assert a FOIA pattern or practice claim. As such, we vacate the injunction and remand with instructions [1093]*1093to conduct farther proceedings on an open record to determine in the first instance whether Mayock has standing to bring a pattern or practice claim under this standard. We also find Hajro’s pattern or practice claim moot. Therefore, the summary judgment order is reversed and remanded. We vacate and remand the attorneys’ fees award for further consideration in light of this opinion.

I

A

James Mayock has been an immigration attorney for over thirty years. As part of Mayock’s ongoing immigration caseload, he files requests under FOIA to obtain the alien registration files for his clients. Mayock’s declaration states that USCIS has never produced the requested records within FOIA’s statutory twenty-day time limit. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(A). Nor has the government provided written notice setting forth any “unusual circumstances” for an extension of time beyond the statutory limit. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(B). In support of his pattern or practice claim, Mayock provided a recent FOIA response addressed to another attorney at Mayock’s law firm. USCIS responded almost eight months after the initial request was placed. Mayock also provided declarations from twenty-six other immigration attorneys who have encountered similar, routine delays. All twenty-six attorneys included copies of their own delayed FOIA requests from recent years. USCIS did not rebut this evidence before the district court. Hajro v. U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Servs. (“Hajro I”), 832 F.Supp.2d 1095, 1105 (N.D.Cal.2011).

In addition to the present lawsuit, May-ock previously filed a lawsuit against the INS, USCIS’s predecessor agency, about twenty-five years ago. Mayock similarly alleged that INS had a pattern or practice of violating various provisions of FOIA. Mayock, together with other immigration attorneys, submitted declarations to demonstrate that INS often took months to respond to FOIA requests, far in excess of the statutory time limit, then ten days. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)® (1988). The district court agreed and granted summary judgment in favor of Mayock, directing INS to issue the appropriate notices for extension of time required by FOIA and enjoining the San Francisco District Office of the INS from failing to comply with the statutory timing requirements. Mayock v. I.N.S., 714 F.Supp. 1558 (N.D.Cal.1989), rev’d and remanded, 938 F.2d 1006 (9th Cir.1991).

On appeal, we reversed and remanded. We held that the district court had overlooked the existence of genuine issues of material fact as to whether increasing workloads at INS offices created “exceptional circumstances” justifying its failure to respond within the statutory time limits, and whether the agency had demonstrated “due diligence” in responding to requests for information urgently needed by aliens who faced pending deportation or exclusion proceedings. See Mayock v. Nelson, 938 F.2d 1006,1007-08 (9th Cir.1991).

Upon remand, the parties entered into a settlement agreement (“the Settlement Agreement”), in which INS agreed to implement expedited processing of a FOIA request where the requester demonstrates that an individual’s life or personal safety would be jeopardizéd; or where the requester’s substantial due process rights would be impaired by the failure to process a request immediately. The district court dismissed the case with prejudice but the parties subsequently filed the Settlement Agreement with the court in 1992. The district court’s dismissal order did not expressly retain jurisdiction of the Settle[1094]*1094ment Agreement nor did it incorporate its terms into the order.

B

Mirsad Hajro was a permanent resident of the United States who applied for naturalization in 2003. In October 2007, US-CIS notified Hajro that his naturalization application had been denied based on evidence in his alien registration file that allegedly revealed false testimony regarding his foreign military service.

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