Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-3_06-cv-04643/USCOURTS-cand-3_06-cv-04643-6/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 895
Nature of Suit: Freedom of Information Act of 1974
Cause of Action: 05:552 Freedom of Information Act

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United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

JOSHUA A. GERSTEIN,

Plaintiff,

 v.

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, et al.,

Defendants.

 /

No. C-06-4643 MMC

ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S

MOTION TO REQUIRE FURTHER

STATUS REPORT FROM DEFENDANT

FBI

(Docket No. 44)

Before the Court is plaintiff’s motion, filed July 2, 2007, to require defendant Federal

Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) to file a further report regarding the status of its expedited

processing of plaintiff’s request under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”). 

Defendants have filed opposition to the motion; plaintiff has filed a reply. Having

considered the papers filed in support of and in opposition to the motion, the motion is

hereby GRANTED, as follows:

1. No later than August 31, 2007, the FBI shall file a further status report identifying

(1) each agency, component, or other governmental entity to whom there is a pending

referral from the FBI for processing of documents relating to plaintiff’s FOIA request; and

(2) the number of pages and documents referred to each such agency, component, or

other governmental entity. See 28 C.F.R. § 16.4(f) (“Whenever a component refers all or

any part of the responsibility for responding to a request to another component or agency, it

Case 3:06-cv-04643-MMC Document 54 Filed 08/14/07 Page 1 of 2
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ordinarily shall notify the requester of the referral and inform the requester of the name of

each component or agency to which the request has been referred and of the part of the

request that has been referred.”). The Court is unpersuaded by the FBI’s conclusory

contention that providing such information to plaintiff “could reveal . . . classified

information.” (See Opp. Ex. 1 (Hardy Decl.) ¶ 6.)

2. No later than August 31, 2007, the FBI shall file a declaration from a competent

official of each agency, component, or other governmental entity to whom there is a

pending referral from the FBI for processing of documents relating to plaintiff’s FOIA

request. Each such declaration shall set forth when the referred documents were received

from the FBI, the extent of the processing that has been undertaken to date, what further

processing is required, when processing is expected to be completed, and what, if any,

expedited treatment has been afforded to the referral.

3. No later than seven days after the processing of all of the above-referenced

pending referrals has been completed, the FBI shall file a notice so informing plaintiff and

the Court. No later than fourteen days after the filing of such notice, the parties shall file a

joint status report setting forth a proposed schedule for the filing and briefing of motions

regarding the adequacy of all defendants’ responses with respect to the withholding of

documents from files of individual leak investigations. 

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: August 14, 2007 MAXINE M. CHESNEY

United States District Judge

Case 3:06-cv-04643-MMC Document 54 Filed 08/14/07 Page 2 of 2