American Oversight v. Federal Bureau Of Investigation
- Lewis Kaplan
- 1:20-cv-02088
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In American Oversight v. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Judge Gorenstein ordered the parties to propose a schedule for possible summary-judgment motions.
American Oversight and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which were required to confer and propose the next-case schedule.
What happened
In American Oversight v. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the court said the next step would likely be a motion asking for judgment without a trial. The court cited decisions explaining that such motions are generally used to resolve Freedom of Information Act cases.
The parties must confer and submit a joint or separate letter proposing a schedule by July 13, 2020. Either party may explain in that letter why a summary-judgment motion is not appropriate and propose another next step after consulting the other party.
United States Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein issued the order. He did not decide the parties’ underlying dispute or rule on any summary-judgment motion.
The detailed version
- American Oversight v. Federal Bureau Of Investigation · No. 1:20-cv-02088
- Lewis Kaplan
- July 6, 2020
Background
The opinion is a scheduling order in a Freedom of Information Act case brought by American Oversight against the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The court stated that it assumed the next step should be the filing of a summary-judgment motion by either party or both parties. Summary judgment is a procedure for asking the court to decide a case without a trial when the relevant facts and law permit that result.
Order
The court directed the parties to confer about a schedule for filing any summary-judgment motion. They must submit a joint proposal or separate proposals by letter filed on or before July 13, 2020. If either party believed summary judgment was not the appropriate next step, that party could say so in the letter and, after consulting the other party about its position, propose appropriate next steps.
Effect of the Order
The court did not decide the underlying Freedom of Information Act dispute, rule on any summary-judgment motion, or determine whether the Federal Bureau of Investigation must disclose records. The order addressed only the next procedural steps in the case.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.