Opinion ID: 694614
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Of Administrative Remedies And Their Exhaustion

Text: 22 As it did in the district court, the Tax Division contends that the district court was lacking in subject matter jurisdiction because the Ruotolos failed to exhaust their administrative remedies. The district court declined to rule on this contention, holding that the defense should have been raised in a motion made pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1). We take the opportunity to state that the contention is meritless in any event. 23 If a request for information seeks documents that are not reasonably identifiable, the Tax Division argues, an agency response is not required. If a response is not required, so goes the argument, the requester has in fact failed to exhaust administrative remedies and the court is without jurisdiction to decide the issue. The flaw in this approach is obvious: if a court is to determine that it has no jurisdiction, it must first decide the very question it would be called upon to decide if it had jurisdiction. Whether the information sought is reasonably identifiable is a question that must be resolved on plenary review, and the mere determination by an agency, the Tax Division here, that the material sought cannot be reasonably identified, will not serve to bar that plenary review. See Hudgins v. IRS, 620 F.Supp. 19, 21 (D.D.C.1985) (exhaustion and identifiability requirements are distinct), aff'd, 808 F.2d 137 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 803, 108 S.Ct. 47, 98 L.Ed.2d 12 (1987). Truitt v. Dep't of State, 897 F.2d 540, 543-44 (D.C.Cir.1990), cited by the Tax Division, is not to the contrary. There, the issue addressed was when an agency search is required, and the court was not concerned with exhaustion of remedies or jurisdiction. 24 The Ruotolos did not actually exhaust their administrative remedy in this case for another reason, however, but the failure is excused under the circumstances. The denial of requested information must be appealed to the head of an agency, see Oglesby v. U.S. Dep't of Army, 920 F.2d 57, 61-62 (D.C.Cir.1990), here the Attorney General, see 28 C.F.R. Sec. 16.8. The Ruotolos failed to appeal. Nevertheless, administrative remedies are deemed exhausted if the agency fails to comply with the applicable time limit provisions of the FOIA. 5 U.S.C. Sec. 552(a)(6)(C); see Voinche v. FBI, 999 F.2d 962, 963 (5th Cir.1993). The time limit provision requires that a determination on a request be made within 10 days and that it include a notification of the requester's right to appeal. 5 U.S.C. Sec. 552(a)(6)(A)(i). The Tax Division's response to the Ruotolos did not include notification of the right to appeal and, consequently, there was no timely determination of the request. Accordingly, the Ruotolos are deemed to have exhausted their administrative remedies. See Oglesby, 920 F.2d at 67. 25