Torres v. U.S. Department of Justice

Background

Wilfredo Torres, representing himself and proceeding without paying the filing fee, filed a complaint under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). He alleged that he had not received documents in response to two requests submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on April 6, 2021. He identified the requests by the numbers “040621-18” and “2021-01078.” After telephone inquiries, he was directed to other agency divisions. He treated an August 6, 2021 letter from the DOJ Office of Inspector General as a denial, although the letter did not refer to FOIA.

Torres said he appealed two denials on August 6, 2021, but the opinion states that at least one appeal used a number—“A-2021-02165”—that did not match the number he had given for his second April request. The opinion also states that it was unclear to whom he sent the appeals. His requests sought broad categories of communications, telephone records, electronic communications, audio recordings, and other records concerning the DOJ, courts, other agencies, and several matters involving alleged entries into his apartment and related incidents.

Legal standard

Because Torres was proceeding without paying the filing fee, the court was required to dismiss the complaint, or any part of it, if it was frivolous, malicious, failed to state a claim for relief, or sought money from an immune defendant. The court also had to dismiss the case if it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction. Although courts read self-represented pleadings liberally, those pleadings still must provide a short and plain statement showing entitlement to relief.

To obtain judicial enforcement of a FOIA request, a requester must show that a federal agency improperly withheld agency records. The requested records must be records the agency created or obtained and controlled when the request was made. A request must also describe the records clearly enough that an agency employee familiar with the subject can locate them with a reasonable amount of effort. Before seeking judicial review, a FOIA requester generally must complete the agency’s administrative appeal process.

Court’s analysis

The court identified several defects in Torres’s FOIA claims. First, the requests were not reasonably specific. Torres provided several different versions of what he had requested, and the DOJ Office of Inspector General’s letter suggested that the agency did not understand his inquiry to be a FOIA request. The court also found that the requests were extremely broad and could not be located with a reasonable amount of effort. Some versions would have required investigating records outside the DOJ.

Second, the court found that Torres had not shown that he exhausted his administrative remedies. Although he alleged that he submitted two requests and two appeals, the mismatch between at least one initial-request number and an appeal number left inadequate information about which request he had appealed. As a result, the complaint did not plead facts showing that the DOJ improperly withheld agency records.

The court had already given Torres two opportunities to amend his complaint. It concluded that another amendment would not cure the defects and declined to grant further leave to amend. The court noted, however, that the order did not prevent Torres from filing a new, properly narrow FOIA request.

Disposition

The court dismissed Torres’s second amended complaint under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) for failure to state a claim. It also certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. The clerk was directed to mail Torres a copy of the order and note service on the docket.