MEMORANDUM OPINION
COLLEEN KOLLAR KOTELLY UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT JUDGE
Plaintiff
brought this action under the Freedom of Information Act
(“FOIA”), see 5 U.S.C. § 552, in an
effort to obtain information allegedly maintained by the
United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District
of Michigan (“USAO/MIE”). The Court granted
Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment and to Dismiss on
July 12, 2017, and plaintiff appealed. The United States
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
remanded this matter for further proceedings on the adequacy
of defendant's search for records responsive to
plaintiff's FOIA request. See Order, Jenkins
v. U.S. Dep't of Justice, No. 17-5184 (D.C. Cir.
Aug. 14, 2018). As the D.C. Circuit suggested, this Court
“order[ed defendant] to submit a reasonably detailed
affidavit upon which the reasonableness of its search can be
judged.” Id.
Having
reviewed defendant's declaration, plaintiff's
response, and the parties' respective exhibits, the Court
concludes that defendant conducted an adequate search for
records responsive to plaintiff's FOIA request.
I.
Plaintiff's FOIA Request
Plaintiff
sent a letter dated May 3, 2016, to Nancy Aishie A. Abraham,
an Assistant United States Attorney (“AUSA”) in
the USAO/MIE's in Flint, Michigan office, the caption of
which reads:
IDENTIFICATION OF REQUESTER: IN ACCORDANCE WITH 28 CFR Sec.
16.41(d) INFORMATION IN RE: DISCLOSURE OF ALL CRIMINAL BONDS,
BONDING, JUDGMENT NUMBERS, OR OTHERWISE AS REQUESTED, No.
08-1329-FH WASHTENAW COUNTY 22ND JUDICIAL CIRCUIT COURT, ANN
ARBOR, MICHIGAN & No. 13-708614
Compl., Ex. A-1 at 1 (emphasis in original). Plaintiff sought
“full disclosure and release of all records . . .
[c]ontained in the files of [EOUSA] . . . under [his] name
and/or identifier to [his] name.” Id., Ex. A-1
at 1 (emphasis removed). He listed several categories of
information of interest to him, such as “Criminal
Bonding information” and “Judgment Numbers
information[.]” Id., Ex. A-1 at 1. The letter
found its way to the Executive Office for United States
Attorneys (“EOUSA”), a component of the United
States Department of Justice (“DOJ”). See
id., Ex. A-1 at 3.
EOUSA
assigned the matter a tracking number, FOIA-2016-02583. Mem.
of P. & A. in Support of Def.'s Mot. for Summ. J. and
to Dismiss (“Def.'s Mem.”). Decl. of David
Luczynski (“Luczynski Decl.”) ¶ 5. Because
plaintiff had not “provide[d] a notarized example of
his signature or a certification of identity, ”
Luczynski Decl. ¶ 5, EOUSA asked that he return a
Certification of Identity form and “clarify whether
[he] was seeking or all records or records related to bonds
only, ” id. Plaintiff returned the form,
see Compl., Ex. B-2 at 5, accompanied by a letter
with the caption:
RE: REQUEST NO. FOIA-2016-02583; VAN JENKINS (SELF)/BONDS
& RECORDS; GOVERNMENT CERTIFIED RECORDS PURSUANT TO 28
U.S.C. 1733(a) FOR CASE(S): 82-13708614-01-FH &
08-1329-FH; AMENDED REQUEST OF FOIA TO THE 5/3/16 REQUEST.
Id., Ex. B-2 at 1 (emphasis in original).
EOUSA
assigned the matter a new tracking number, FOIA-2016-3203,
and deemed the request deficient. Luczynski Decl. ¶ 7.
Applicable regulations require that a requester identify the
specific United States Attorney's Office where he
believed responsive records may be located, and plaintiff had
not done so. Id. Plaintiff was informed that he
could correct the deficiency and file a new FOIA request.
Id.
Plaintiff
pursued administrative appeals of EOUSA's initial
determinations on FOIA-2016-2583 and FOIA-2016-3203 to
DOJ's Office of Information Policy (“OIO”).
See Resp. Pleading to Def.'s Supporting Decl. on
the Adequacy of Pl.'s FOIA Request Search for Records
(“Pl.'s Resp.”), Ex. B at 20-21. OIP notified
plaintiff by letter dated September 1, 2016, that,
“[a]s a result of discussions between EOUSA personnel
and [OIP], EOUSA . . . agreed to conduct a search for
responsive records in [USAO/MIE].” Id., Ex. B
at 26. And as defendant represented to the D.C. Circuit,
“it [ran] a search for documents responsive to
[plaintiff's] FOIA request[.]” Order, Jenkins
v. U.S. Dep't of Justice, No. 17-5184 (D.C. Cir.
Aug. 14, 2018).
II.
USAO/MIE's Search ...