Second Circuit denies attorney fees in FOIA case

A federal appeals court has denied a motion seeking attorney’s fees in a Freedom of Information Act case.

Plaintiff John Wilson appealed a District Court ruling denying his motion for fees and costs. He was dissatisfied with the initial response to several FOIA requests of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, so he filed a lawsuit claiming the FBI had conducted an inadequate search.

The District Court granted Wilson’s motion for summary judgment in part, ordering the FBI to conduct a search of an additional database, but the additional search led to no new documents.

Wilson then filed a motion seeking attorneys’ fees and costs because he was the “substantially prevailing party” under FOIA provisions.

The District Court denied the motion. The court ruled that, although Wilson was statutorily eligible for the fees, he was not entitled to the fees under criteria established in Pietrangelo v. United States Army, a Second Circuit case decided in 2009.

“We conclude that the District Court correctly applied the Pietrangelo factors and did not abuse its discretion in holding that those factors weighed against an award of attorneys’ fees and costs,” the Second Circuit wrote in Wilson’s case.

Between June 2013 and October 2019, Wilson submitted three FOIA requests to the FBI. The March 26, 2014, request, which was his second request and the primary focus of his complaint, states: “I request disclosure of all agency records concerning, naming, or relating to me.”

In response, the FBI produced 10 pages of records. Wilson then submitted a third request, again seeking all records pertaining to him. In response, the FBI informed Wilson that the agency had already produced all responsive records.

After exhausting his administrative remedies, Wilson filed the lawsuit alleging that the FBI had failed to conduct an adequate search.

In April 2021, while the suit was pending, the FBI found five pages that had not been produced in response to Wilson’s FOIA requests initially. Each of the five new pages was largely duplicative of pages already produced, but one page contained a handwritten note that had previously been redacted.

Wilson and the FBI each moved for summary judgment. The District Court granted the motions in part and denied them in part.

Specifically, the District Court found that the FBI’s records search was adequate, except for its failure to search the Delta system — a record-keeping system for records pertaining to confidential sources. The District Court therefore ordered the FBI to search the Delta system for responsive records. The FBI complied but found no responsive records.

Afterward, Wilson filed the motion seeking attorneys’ fees and costs. The magistrate judge recommended denying the motion, concluding that Wilson was not entitled to fees under the criteria articulated in Pietrangelo.

The District Judge adopted the magistrate judge’s recommendation over Wilson’s objection, denying the motion for fees.

“We conclude that the District Court correctly applied the Pietrangelo factors and did not abuse its discretion in holding that those factors weighed against an award of attorneys’ fees and costs,” the Second Circuit wrote.

“The only issue on appeal is whether the District Court abused its discretion in concluding that Wilson is not entitled to a fee award under the four criteria articulated in Pietrangelo,” the court wrote.

If a litigant is statutorily eligible for fees the district court must weigh four criteria to determine whether the litigant is entitled to an award of fees: the public benefit derived; the commercial benefit to the plaintiff; the nature of the plaintiff’s interest in the records; and whether the government had a reasonable basis for withholding requested information.

The Second Circuit found that the District Court correctly concluded that this first factor does not support an award of fees because the documents had little public value and were personal.

The Second Circuit also found that the District Court also correctly concluded that the third factor, the nature of Wilson’s interest in the records, weighs against an award of fees.

The District Court also correctly concluded that the fourth factor weighs against a fee award.

“Because three of the four Pietrangelo factors in this case weigh against the award of fees, the District Court did not abuse its discretion in denying Wilson’s motion for attorneys’ fees and costs,” the Second Circuit ruled.

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