District Court Decisions

Hajro v. U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Servs., No. 08-1350, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117964 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 12, 2011) (Grewal, Mag.).  Holding:  Dismissing FOIA claims brought against individual defendants; holding that party who did not submit FOIA request at issue has standing to assert a "pattern or practice" claim under FOIA; granting declaratory relief that defendant engaged in pattern or practice of failing to abide by FOIA; granting plaintiffs' request for injunctive relief; concluding that defendant is required to release certain non-exempt information previously withheld pursuant to Exemption 5; concluding defendant's FOIA processing policy violates a previous settlement agreement as well as the terms of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and the FOIA; dismissing a claim brought under APA; and granting partial summary judgment to defendants on plaintiffs' equal protection claims.  The court awards summary judgment to plaintiffs on their claim that USCIS's FOIA policy and regulations establishing certain processing tracks violates a 1992 settlement agreement between the immigration attorney plaintiff and USCIS's predecessor agency concerning expedited processing of certain FOIA requests.  The court also concludes that this policy "was promulgated in violation of the APA and FOIA" because it was adopted "without opportunity for receipt of public comment" as required by5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(3)(A) and 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(D)(i).