Steven SCHIFFER, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. the FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION; United States Department of Justice, Defendants-Appellants

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) appeals from a district court order requiring limited disclosure of certain law enforcement documents pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552 . The district court exercised jurisdiction pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552 (a)(4)(B). We have jurisdiction over this timely appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we reverse.

I

As the district court stated, this case arises from “civil litigation that [] got completely out of hand.” In 1987, Steven Schiffer filed a civil lawsuit against his former business partners, including Thomas Sherwood, which concerned the control of two companies and included claims for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, bad faith denial of contract, defamation, abuse of process, and malicious prosecution. According to Schiffer, Sherwood attempted to gain leverage in the suit by accusing Schiffer of hiring a “hit man” to kill Sherwood and his wife. Schiffer contends that Sherwood then reported Schiffer’s “plot” to a personal friend of Sherwood’s who was a former agent of the Central Intelligence Agency, James M. Potts. According to Schiffer, Potts used his connections with the FBI to…