Covert v. Harrington

876 F.2d 751 4 Indiv.Empl.Rts.Cas. 1422 Willard A. COVERT, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees/Cross-Appellants, v. John HARRINGTON, Secretary, Department of Energy for the United States of America, Defendant-Appellant/Cross-Appellee. Nos. 87-4321, 87-4340. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted Feb. 7, 1989. Decided May 26, 1989. As Amended July 31, 1989. Daryl D. Jonson, Cowan, Walker, Jonson & Moore, P.S., Richland, Wash., and James Egan, Kennewick, Wash., for plaintiffs-appellees/cross-appellants. Philip A. Kesaris, U.S. Atty., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., for defendant-appellant/cross-appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. Before HUG, NORRIS and THOMPSON, Circuit Judges. WILLIAM A. NORRIS, Circuit Judge: 1 This is an action brought under the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. Sec. 552a, by 13 employees at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. Plaintiffs claim that unlawful disclosures of information in their personnel security files by the Department of Energy (DOE) to the DOE Inspector General (IG) and subsequently to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) led to criminal prosecutions against them.…