Waldner v. United States Department of Justice, 981 F. Supp. 2d 14

Waldner, a FOIA requester, sued the DOJ for noncompliance with requests about Solace Transfer Corp. and Nationwide Cartage Co.
DOJ/EOUSA acknowledged Waldner’s June 27, 2011 and June 28, 2011 requests in Aug. 2011.
USAO in the Northern District of Iowa conducted searches on Sep. 1, 2011, Sep. 15, 2011, and Jan. 19, 2012.
Waldner sought expedited appeal alleging constructive denial due to lack of response.
Waldner received EOUSA documents for the June 27, 2011 request in Sep. 2012 and the June 28, 2011 request in Sep. 2012.
Waldner filed a pro se complaint on Jan. 7, 2013 after exhausting administrative remedies? (constructive exhaustion).

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Waldner exhausted administrative remedies	Waldner constructively exhausted due to agency delay	Agency delay does not equate to exhaustion	Yes, constructive exhaustion established; dismissal denied
Whether the DOJ search was reasonably calculated to locate records	Search was inadequate; more documents may exist	Search was reasonable and diligent	Yes, search adequate; summary judgment for defendant warranted

Oglesby v. U.S. Dep’t of Army, 920 F.2d 57 (D.C. Cir. 1990) (exhaustion and FOIA timelines; agency time limits)
Iturralde v. Comptroller of Currency, 315 F.3d 311 (D.C. Cir. 2003) (adequacy of searches under FOIA)
Hidalgo v. FBI, 344 F.3d 1256 (D.C. Cir. 2003) (constructive exhaustion under FOIA when requests ignored)
Steinberg v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 23 F.3d 548 (D.C. Cir. 1994) (scope of reasonable search; agency must show search was reasonable)
Weisberg v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 705 F.2d 1344 (D.C. Cir. 1983) (reasonableness standard for FOIA search)