Case ID: f-appx_75/html/0316-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "PER CURIAM.\n    ", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Ronald H. TONKIN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES CUSTOMS SERVICE, Defendant-Appellee.
    No. 03-20400
    Summary Calendar.
    United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.
    Sept. 19, 2003.
    Ronald H. Tonkin, Houston, TX, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
    Andrew A. Bobb, Assistant US Attorney, US Attorney’s Office, Houston, TX, for Defendant-Appellee.
    Before JOLLY, SMITH, and WIENER, Circuit Judges.
   PER CURIAM.

Ronald H. Tonkin appeals the district court’s dismissal of his lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552 (“FOIA”). Tonkin argues that the (b)(6) and (b)(7)(C) FOIA exemptions do not apply to the documents requested by him.

The requested records include information about an investigation of specific individuals and therefore constitute “files” within the meaning of the (b)(6) exemption. See Sherman v. United States Dep’t of the Army, 244 F.3d 357, 361 (5th Cir.2001). The substantial privacy interests implicated in disclosure of the requested documents outweigh the limited public interest that would be served by revealing the records. See id. Thus, disclosure “would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” See 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6). Because the district court did not err in determining that the (b)(6) exemption applied in this case, this court need not decide whether the (b)(7)(C) exemption applied as well.

AFFIRMED. 
      
       Pursuant to 5th Cir. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5th Cir. R. 47.5.4.