Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel v. United States Department of…

Background

This Freedom of Information Act case was pending in the Southern District of New York. The Government answered the complaint on January 15, 2021. In a joint request submitted on behalf of both parties, the Government reported that it had searched for and located 279 pages that might respond to the request.

The Government stated that it had produced 240 pages in full and 31 pages in part. It withheld 8 pages in full under Freedom of Information Act Exemptions 6, 7(C), and 7(E). The Government also said that additional responsive, non-exempt records might exist, but that those records could involve an ongoing investigation.

Requested Stay

The parties asked the court to stay, or pause, the litigation until the investigation ended. They stated that a stay could allow the Government to determine whether additional records were responsive and whether those records could be released or withheld under applicable exemptions. They also said the pause could narrow the issues and clarify whether motion practice would be needed.

Ruling

Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein did not impose the requested stay. The order states that, because the plaintiff and defendant agreed to postpone production, a stay was unnecessary. The court ordered the parties to jointly report the status of the proceedings by June 1, 2021, and directed them to appear for a conference on June 18, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. The order did not decide whether any additional records had to be disclosed or whether the Government properly relied on the cited exemptions.