Marino v. Department of Justice, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83248

Marino, incarcerated, sues multiple DOJ components under FOIA/Privacy/Sunshine Acts seeking various records.
Prior order: Sunshine Act claim dismissed; issues remained on search fees and Privacy Act searches.
EOUSA/USAO-MA refused to cap search fees; EOUSA estimated 207 hours and $5,796.00 in fees.
Marino appealed the waiver denial to OIP, which closed the matter due to ongoing litigation; fee-waiver review became ripe.
Court analyzes exhaustion of remedies and whether Marino qualifies for a fee waiver under 28 C.F.R. § 16.11(k) and 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(A).
Court denies the fee waiver, finding Marino failed to show public-interest factors and adequate dissemination plan.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Exhaustion of remedies for fee waiver	Marino exhausted by appealing to OIP; remedies pursued within agency framework.	OIP closure effectively ends exhaustion; record shows ongoing litigation.	Exhaustion satisfied; no barrier to addressing waiver here.
Entitlement to fee waiver under public-interest factors	Records will educate the public about government operations; dissemination planned.	Public-interest factors not satisfied; dissemination plan and new informational value lacking.	Waiver denied; Marino failed to meet four-factor public-interest test and dissemination plan.

U.S. Dep’t of Justice v. Reporters Comm. for Freedom of the Press, 489 U.S. 749 (1989) (FOIA purpose to open agency action to public scrutiny)
Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Dep’t of Treasury, 796 F. Supp. 2d 13 (D.D.C. 2011) (public-interest standard for disclosure of records)
Campbell v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 164 F.3d 20 (D.C. Cir. 1998) (public-interest waiver requires four factors)
Prison Legal News v. Lappin, 436 F. Supp. 2d 17 (D.D.C. 2006) (consideration of dissemination ability and plan)
Oglesby v. U.S. Dep’t of Army, 920 F.2d 57 (D.C. Cir. 1990) (exhaustion for FOIA requests and fee waivers)