Inst. for Justice v. Internal Revenue Serv.

340 F. Supp. 3d 34
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedSeptember 28, 2018
DocketCase No. 1:16-cv-02406-TNM
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 340 F. Supp. 3d 34 (Inst. for Justice v. Internal Revenue Serv.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Inst. for Justice v. Internal Revenue Serv., 340 F. Supp. 3d 34 (D.C. Cir. 2018).

Opinion

TREVOR N. MCFADDEN, U.S.D.J.

The Institute for Justice is a nonprofit interested in civil forfeiture issues, and the Internal Revenue Service conducts civil seizures and forfeitures as part of its law enforcement role. At issue here is the Institute's request under the Freedom of Information Act for a comprehensive "database dump" from the IRS Asset Forfeiture Tracking and Retrieval System (AFTRAK), which monitors seized assets. The IRS contends that AFTRAK is not a database containing "records" and thus subject to FOIA but is only an electronic system that generates reports based on "records" in subsidiary databases. Because standard reports may still qualify as "records" under FOIA, the IRS generated the most comprehensive report that AFTRAK can create, producing an almost completely redacted version to the Institute. The Institute, understandably, was not satisfied. For the reasons below, the Court holds that the IRS has produced the legally relevant *38report, but with a few improper redactions under FOIA. Each party's Motion for Summary Judgment will therefore be granted in part and denied in part.

I. Background

The Institute for Justice (the Institute, or IJ) describes itself as "a non-profit organization ... dedicated to promoting and defending civil liberties." Compl. ¶ 2, ECF No. 1. The Institute "has dedicated considerable resources to studying and informing the public about problems associated with civil forfeiture." Id. ¶ 3. In March 2015, the Institute asked the IRS to provide "all records contained in the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal [I]nvestigations Division's Asset Forfeiture Tracking and Retrieval (AFTRAK) database from 2000 to the present." Compl. Ex. A (FOIA Request), ECF No. 1-5. The request asked for the records "in an electronic format such as a database 'dump' or comma-separated value files," and also sought "the complete database schema and/or database model describing the tables," and "any database reports, stored procedures, or queries used to aggregate information, such as an annual report." Id. The IRS at first demanded a fee of $753,760 before it would process the request, and it denied the Institute's request for a fee waiver. Id. ¶¶ 20, 24-25.

When the Institute sued in December 2016, the IRS jettisoned its fee requirement. IRS Mem. In Support of Mot. Summ. J. (IRS Mot. Summ. J.) 1. Instead, it generated AFTRAK's Open and Closed Report (Report), "which contains comprehensive data about every asset seized by [the IRS Criminal Investigation Division] within a specified time period." Decl. of Dean E. Martin (Martin Decl.) ¶ 10, IRS Mot. Summ. J., ECF No. 14-3. The Report is "the most utilized and complete standard report available from the AFTRAK system," id. , and the IRS concluded that "release of any of the other standard reports available from AFTRAK, alone or in combination, would not result in the production of any additional or different information about any of the [relevant] assets." Id. ¶ 11. Sr. Analyst Dean Martin ran the Report for the relevant timeframe-January 1, 2000, to March 3, 2015, the date of the FOIA request-and redacted the portions of the Report that he believed to be subject to FOIA exemptions. Id. ¶¶ 12, 21.

The Report is "a 78-page table, with each row ... corresponding to an individual AFTRAK asset seizure and each column corresponding to a certain type of information." IJ Mem. In Support of Mot. Summ. J. (IJ Mot. Summ. J.) 6 (citations omitted). The final product, according to the Institute, was "a PDF file that is approximately 94-99 percent redacted," mostly on a "row-by-row or column-by-column basis." Id.

After the IRS produced the redacted Report, the parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment. The Court then issued an Order holding that the IRS had inadequately invoked FOIA exemptions for two redaction categories: certain fields redacted because of alleged grand jury connections, and four columns redacted because of privacy concerns. Order of June 5, 2018 1-2, ECF No. 32.1 The Order required the IRS to either produce the relevant information or submit a supplemental declaration explaining in greater detail why production was not required. Id. The IRS then produced almost all the relevant information along with a supplemental affidavit, Notice of Compliance, ECF No. 35; Declaration of Jacqueline K. Queener (Queener Decl.), ECF No. 34, and the parties filed briefs disputing whether the IRS had complied with the Order in full. The case is now ripe for decision.

*39II. Legal Standards

FOIA requires federal agencies to "disclose information to the public upon reasonable request unless the records at issue fall within specifically delineated exemptions." Judicial Watch, Inc. v. FBI , 522 F.3d 364, 365-66 (D.C. Cir. 2008) ; see also 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(3)(A) (records sought must be "reasonably describe[d]"). To prevail on a motion for summary judgment, a movant must show 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) ; see also Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc. , 477 U.S. 242, 247, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Thus, a FOIA defendant is entitled to summary judgment if it proves "beyond material doubt [ ] that it has conducted a search reasonably calculated to uncover all relevant documents," Morley v. CIA , 508 F.3d 1108, 1114 (D.C. Cir. 2007) (citation omitted), and that there is no genuine dispute over whether "each document that falls within the class requested either has been produced, is unidentifiable or is wholly exempt from the Act's inspection requirements." Weisberg v. Dep't of Justice , 627 F.2d 365, 368 (D.C. Cir. 1980) (citation omitted).

Agency declarations receive "a presumption of good faith, which cannot be rebutted by 'purely speculative claims about the existence and discoverability of other documents.' " SafeCard Servs. Inc. v. SEC

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Related

Institute For Justice v. IRS
941 F.3d 567 (D.C. Circuit, 2019)

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Bluebook (online)
340 F. Supp. 3d 34, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/inst-for-justice-v-internal-revenue-serv-cadc-2018.