Unsuck Dc Metro v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority

CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedMay 21, 2020
DocketCivil Action No. 2019-1242
StatusPublished

This text of Unsuck Dc Metro v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Unsuck Dc Metro v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Unsuck Dc Metro v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, (D.D.C. 2020).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

UNSUCK DC METRO,

Plaintiff,

v. Civil Action No. 1:19-cv-01242 (CJN)

WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN AREA TRANSIT AUTHORITY, et al.,

Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Plaintiff Unsuck DC Metro claims that Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority

(WMATA) has failed to comply with WMATA’s Public Access to Records Policy (“PARP”)

and must disclose its customer satisfaction survey. See generally Compl., ECF No. 1. WMATA

has moved to dismiss or, in the alternative, for summary judgment. See generally Defs.’ Mot. to

Dismiss or, in the Alt., for Summ. J. (“Defs.’ Mot.”), ECF No. 8. For the reasons that follow, the

Court dismisses certain claims and grants summary judgment in favor of WMATA on the others.

I. Background

A. WMATA & PARP

WMATA was founded in 1967 after Congress approved the interstate transit authority

compact between the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia (“WMATA Compact”). See

generally D.C. Code § 9-1107.01; Md. Code Ann. Transp. § 10-204; Va. Code Ann.

§ 33.2-3100. In 2000, WMATA first adopted PARP, making certain public records available for

public inspection. See PARP § 12.0.

The current version of PARP requires WMATA to “interpret and apply [it] consistent

with the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552, and federal practice,

1 including when determining whether to waive exemptions.” Id. § 1.0. And it “make[s] official

public records, including electronic records, available to the public for inspection and copying to

the greatest extent possible unless exempted from disclosure by a provision” within the policy.

Id. “All records received or generated by WMATA, its officers, employees[,] and agents in and

through the regular course of WMATA’s business, and in WMATA’s control at the time of the

response . . . unless such records are published and are offered for sale by WMATA” are within

PARP’s scope. Id. § 3.0.

B. This Case

Unsuck is an unincorporated association that “raise[s] awareness of and educate[s]

[Washington, D.C.-area] residents and visitors about the operations of [WMATA].” Compl. ¶ 4.

In aid of that mission, Unsuck has previously requested and published records from WMATA.

Id.

In April 2018, Unsuck requested a copy of WMATA’s most recent customer satisfaction

survey. Id. ¶ 10. WMATA conducts customer satisfaction surveys each quarter to help it decide

if it should make improvements to its services and business operations. Decl. of Lynn Bowersox

(“Bowersox Decl.”) ¶ 14, ECF No. 8-1. According to WMATA, the survey is a “key metric to

understanding whether [it] is deploying its resources effectively,” and WMATA’s Executive

Management Team uses the survey to inform “a multitude of WMATA decisions, including

scheduling, fare changes[,] and customer service training.” Id. WMATA developed the survey

with its contractor, Morpace. See id. ¶ 16. Morpace asks the same questions each time it

conducts the survey, so WMATA can benchmark its performance by monitoring variances in the

survey responses, and WMATA therefore instructs Morpace to keep the survey confidential. Id.

¶¶ 17–18. Morpace conducts the survey “by telephone and online via a closed link that is

2 transmitted to a respondent by email,” which, in WMATA’s view, “minimize[s] the risk of the

survey questions becoming publicly known.” Id. ¶ 17.

Following receipt of Unsuck’s PARP request and associated administrative appeals,

WMATA ultimately decided to redact all but one page of the survey on the ground that the

redacted pages contacted information protected by the deliberative process privilege and

confidential business information exemption. See Compl. ¶¶ 10–17.1 Unsuck asserts that, by

withholding the redacted information, WMATA has violated PARP (Count One), the

Administrative Procedure Act (APA) (Count Two), the First Amendment (Count Three), and the

common-law right of access to information (Count Four). Id. ¶¶ 18–42. For its part, WMATA

argues that the Court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction over Unsuck’s claims, that Unsuck fails to

state a claim upon which relief can be granted, or alternatively, that WMATA is entitled to

summary judgment on Unsuck’s PARP claim. See generally Defs.’ Mem. of P. & A. in Supp. of

Defs.’ Mot. (“Defs.’ Mem.”) at 1, ECF No. 8 at 3.

II. Legal Standards

“‘Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction,’ possessing ‘only that power

authorized by Constitution and statute.’” Gunn v. Minton, 568 U.S. 251, 256 (2013) (quoting

Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am., 511 U.S. 375, 377 (1994)). To survive a motion to

dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1), a plaintiff bears the burden of

establishing a court’s subject-matter jurisdiction over its asserted claims. Arpaio v. Obama, 797

F.3d 11, 19 (D.C. Cir. 2015). When evaluating a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(1), the

court “assume[s] the truth of all material factual allegations in the complaint and ‘construe[s] the

1 Additionally, WMATA informed Unsuck that it owed $324.17 in processing fees and that if Unsuck did not pay that amount, WMATA would not process Unsuck’s two pending requests or any of its future PARP requests. Compl. ¶ 15.

3 complaint liberally, granting plaintiff the benefit of all inferences that can be derived from the

facts alleged’ and upon such facts determine jurisdictional questions.” Am. Nat’l Ins. Co. v.

FDIC, 642 F.3d 1137, 1139 (D.C. Cir. 2011) (quoting Thomas v. Principi, 394 F.3d 970, 972

(D.C. Cir. 2005)). Without subject-matter jurisdiction over a claim, the court must dismiss it.

Arbaugh v. Y&H Corp., 546 U.S. 500, 506–07 (2006).

When considering a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of

Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), the Court must accept all well-pleaded facts alleged in the Complaint

as true and draw all reasonable inferences from those facts in the plaintiff’s favor. W. Org. of

Res. Councils v. Zinke, 892 F.3d 1234, 1240–41 (D.C. Cir. 2018). The burden is on the plaintiff

to plead “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Bell Atl. Corp. v.

Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007). And a claim is facially plausible if “the plaintiff pleads

factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable

for the misconduct alleged.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (citing Twombly, 550

U.S. at 556).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.
477 U.S. 242 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America
511 U.S. 375 (Supreme Court, 1994)
Arbaugh v. Y & H Corp.
546 U.S. 500 (Supreme Court, 2006)
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly
550 U.S. 544 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Mogenhan v. Napolitano
613 F.3d 1162 (D.C. Circuit, 2010)
Thomas, Oscar v. Principi, Anthony
394 F.3d 970 (D.C. Circuit, 2005)
American Nat. Ins. Co. v. FDIC
642 F.3d 1137 (D.C. Circuit, 2011)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Unsuck Dc Metro v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/unsuck-dc-metro-v-washington-metropolitan-area-transit-authority-dcd-2020.