Opinion ID: 755736
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Methods of Maintaining Records

Text: 43 Major Gowan suggests that the Air Force's maintenance of inaccurate and incomplete records, namely the Kirtland OSI report and the Ethics file, violated 5 U.S.C. § 552a(e)(5), which requires agencies to maintain all records which are used by the agency in making any determination about any individual with such accuracy, relevance, timeliness, and completeness as is reasonably necessary to assure fairness to the individual in the determination. To redress intentional and willful violations of § 552a(e)(5), the court may award damages, attorney's fees and costs. See 5 U.S.C. §§ 552a(g)(1)(C), (g)(4). To succeed with this claim, Major Gowan must show: 44 (1) he has been aggrieved by an adverse determination; (2) the [agency] failed to maintain his records with the degree of accuracy necessary to assure fairness in the determination; (3) the [agency's] reliance on the inaccurate records was the proximate cause of the adverse determination; and (4) the [agency] acted intentionally or willfully in failing to maintain accurate records. 45 Deters v. United States Parole Comm'n, 85 F.3d 655, 657 (D.C.Cir.1996). 46 Major Gowan has no § 552a(e)(5) cause of action regarding either the Kirtland OSI report or the Ethics file. As discussed above, the Kirtland OSI report is exempted from several of the requirements of the Privacy Act, including § 552a(e)(5). See 5 U.S.C. § 552a(j)(2); 32 C.F.R. Pt. 806b, App. C(a) (1997). Further, the Ethics file is not a record in a Privacy Act system of records, and thus Major Gowan has no § 552a(e)(5) cause of action for Kehl's maintenance of the Ethics report. See Clarkson v. Internal Revenue Serv., 678 F.2d 1368, 1377 (11th Cir.1982).