Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP v. United States Department of the Army

ORDER RE: MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Presently before the court are cross-motions for summary judgment regarding Plaintiffs request for documents from Defendant, a government agency, under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”). Although Defendant has released some responsive documents, Plaintiff alleges that the documents released were improperly redacted, more documents should be released, and Defendant unreasonably delayed answering the request even with regard to the documents that were produced. Defendant argues that its search was reasonable and that the documents not released are exempt from disclosure.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff Munger, Tolies & Olson LLP (“MTO”) brings this suit as the requestor of certain records allegedly held by the Department of the Army (“the Army”). (Compl. ¶ 13.) MTO requested the records, and now sues, on behalf of its client, American Management Services LLC d/b/a Pinnacle (“Pinnacle”). (Id. at ¶ 1, 9.) Pinnacle is involved in ongoing litigation with Clark Realty Capital, LLC (“Clark”) over a joint venture between the two companies to develop and manage certain family housing complexes for the Army (collectively, “the Projects”). (Id. at ¶¶…