Opinion ID: 500338
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Payne's Right to Equitable Relief

Text: 32 The FOIA imposes no limits on courts' equitable powers in enforcing its terms. Renegotiation Bd. v. Bannercraft Clothing Co., 415 U.S. 1, 19-20, 94 S.Ct. 1028, 1038, 39 L.Ed.2d 123 (1974). The District Court concluded, however, that it ought not use its discretion to grant equitable relief because Payne had prevailed in its administrative appeals and because the Air Force's failure to compel AFLC bases to abide by the letter and spirit of the FOIA was, for some unspecified reason, not sufficiently outrageous to warrant a court order. Payne Enterprises, Inc. v. United States, Civ. No. 86-1987 (D.D.C. Nov. 17, 1986), App. 29-30. 33 We hold that the judgment of the District Court reflects a clear abuse of discretion. For almost two years, officers at AFLC bases refused to fulfill Payne's requests for copies of bid abstracts when there was limited competition for a contract, thus forcing Payne to seek administrative review. In every case, the Secretary of the Air Force released the information Payne requested. In November 1985 and June 1986, the Secretary's Office sent letters to AFLC commanders, admonishing them for their refusals to grant Payne's requests because no FOIA exemption applied. Affidavit of Garner D. Payne p 10, reprinted in App. 18; Letter of Steven Thompson to Major General Charles McDonald (June 20, 1986), App. 20-21. The AFLC officers, however, continued to deny Payne's requests, and the Secretary refrained from taking firm action to end their recalcitrance. The Secretary's inability to deal with AFLC officers' noncompliance with the FOIA, and the Air Force's persistent refusal to end a practice for which it offers no justification, entitle Payne to declaratory relief. See Long v. IRS, 693 F.2d 907 (9th Cir.1982) (reversal and remand for consideration of injunctive relief where IRS repeatedly released requested documents after suits were filed in effort to render suits moot). The fact that Payne eventually obtained the information it sought provides scant comfort when stale information is of little value yet more costly than fresh information ought to be. Payne has an undeniable right to the bid information --whether or not it is compiled in the form of bid abstracts--and it is entitled to a judgment in support of its claim. On this point, we agree with the holding of the Ninth Circuit in Long: 34 Congress did not intend for the IRS, or any other agency, to use the FOIA offensively to hinder the release of non-exempt documents. The appellants have fully complied with the administrative scheme. It was the IRS' abuse of this scheme that forced the appellants to bring several lawsuits to obtain release of the documents.... These unreasonable delays in disclosing non-exempt documents violate the intent and purpose of the FOIA, and the courts have a duty to prevent these abuses. 35 693 F.2d at 910. We therefore reverse and remand with instructions to afford Payne declaratory relief. 36 On remand, the District Court should also consider the propriety of injunctive relief. In so doing, the court may accept new affidavits from the parties, and it should assess the import of events that have occurred since it issued its previous decision in November 1986. In particular, it should evaluate the likelihood that the Air Force will return to its illicit practice of delay in the absence of an injunction, given the Air Force's declared intention not to do so but its reservations about the applicability of Exemptions 4 and 5 to situations where the Air Force is able to prove that disclosure redounds to its financial detriment.