National Public Radio Inc. v. Federal Emergency Management Agency, Civil Action No. 2017-0091

Background

NPR and reporter Robert Benincasa submitted a FOIA request to FEMA seeking electronic database records for properties acquired under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), including sellers’ names, property addresses, GIS coordinates, and prices.
FEMA produced 66 pages but withheld sellers’ names and the properties’ addresses/GIS coordinates under FOIA Exemption 6 (privacy). Plaintiffs administrative appeal was denied and they sued. Cross-motions for summary judgment followed.
HMGP has purchased over 10,000 properties with hundreds of millions in federal funds; FEMA publicly discloses only state/county/city/ZIP information, not specific addresses or seller identities.
Plaintiffs contend disclosure is necessary to evaluate program legality, voluntariness, fair-market payments, eligibility for pre-disaster value, compliance with land-use restrictions, potential self-dealing, and overall stewardship of taxpayer funds.
FEMA argues disclosure would invade sellers’ privacy (identities tied to former addresses, one-time payment amounts, possible solicitation by press, and neighbors’ jealousy) and invokes Exemption 6.
The court found FEMA showed a greater-than-de minimis privacy interest but concluded the public interest in disclosure outweighed the sellers’ limited privacy interests and granted plaintiffs’ motion.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Exemption 6 covers HMGP sellers’ names and former property addresses/GIS coordinates	Disclosure furthers FOIA core purpose by enabling public oversight of HMGP spending, program compliance, voluntariness, price fairness, eligibility, land-use compliance, and possible official misconduct	Disclosure would reveal private identities/financial information, invite solicitation and neighbor jealousy; privacy interests outweigh public benefit	Court: Exemption 6 threshold (more-than-de-minimis privacy) met, but balance favors disclosure; withheld names and location data must be produced
Whether former addresses and one-time sale payments create a substantial privacy interest	Plaintiffs: public land-records exist but identifying HMGP purchases via those records is impracticable; information not meaningfully public now	FEMA: former addresses and payment amounts implicate privacy/financial interests and could lead to solicitations	Court: privacy interests exist and are nontrivial but are not weighty enough to overcome public interest
Whether potential press contact/solicitations justify withholding	Plaintiffs: journalists’ contact is not a sufficient harm to block disclosure; FOIA presumption favors transparency	FEMA: disclosure would lead to media contact and unwanted intrusion	Court: press contact is an insufficient privacy harm to prevent disclosure; FOIA’s pro-disclosure tilt applies
Whether disclosure would meaningfully advance FOIA’s core purpose	Plaintiffs: disclosure would significantly aid public understanding and oversight of HMGP administration and taxpayer stewardship	FEMA: public interest speculative or insufficient to outweigh privacy	Court: public interest is substantial and outweighs privacy; records should be produced

Key Cases Cited

Dep’t of Defense v. FLRA, 510 U.S. 487 (U.S. 1994) (framework for balancing privacy vs. public interest under Exemption 6)
Reporters Comm. for Freedom of Press v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 489 U.S. 749 (U.S. 1989) (FOIA’s core purpose: information that sheds light on government operations)
U.S. Dep’t of State v. Washington Post Co., 456 U.S. 595 (U.S. 1982) (Exemption 6 covers records that apply to identifiable individuals)
Multi Ag Media LLC v. Dep’t of Agriculture, 515 F.3d 1224 (D.C. Cir. 2008) (public interest in agency administration of subsidies can outweigh privacy in large datasets)
News-Press v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., 489 F.3d 1173 (11th Cir. 2007) (analyzing privacy of disaster-relief recipients; addresses more probative than names)
Pub. Citizen Health Research Grp. v. Food & Drug Admin., 185 F.3d 898 (D.C. Cir. 1999) (agency bears burden to justify FOIA withholding)