UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA FRANK LLP, Plaintiff, v. Civil Action No. 16-cv-2105 (DLF) CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU, Defendant. MEMORANDUM OPINION Since its inception in February 2016, this FOIA dispute has dwindled to a single issue: whether the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau appropriately withheld portions of two investigational hearing transcripts under 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(E). Before the Court are the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment. For the reasons that follow, the Court will grant summary judgment in favor of the CFPB. I. BACKGROUND 1 In February 2016, Frank LLP (Frank) submitted a FOIA request to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) seeking documents related to the CFPB’s enforcement action against—and eventual consent order with—Portfolio Recovery Associates (PRA). Lazier Decl. ¶ 5, Dkt. 16-3. Frank represents plaintiffs in a lawsuit against PRA and believes that “[r]ecords and information in the CFPB’s possession that pertain to the CFPB’s findings against PRA and its attorneys constitute evidence that would greatly strengthen the claims of the 1 The facts here are recited in the light most favorable to Frank LLP, as they must be in considering the CFPB’s motion for summary judgment. See Chambers v. U.S. Dep’t of Interior, 568 F.3d 998, 1003 (D.C. Cir. 2009). plaintiffs and putative class” in that lawsuit. Pl.’s Opp’n & Cross-Mot., Dkt. 20 at 3. After submitting its request, Frank entered into a series of back-and-forths with the CFPB that included various administrative denials, appeals, and—after Frank filed suit—productions. See Lazier Decl. ¶¶ 5–21, Dkt. 16-3 (describing the process). The final production included redacted versions of two investigational hearing transcripts from the CFPB’s interviews of two PRA employees. Id. ¶ 21; see also Pl.’s Opp’n & Cross-Mot., Dkt. 20 at 7. The CFPB invoked exemption 7(E) as the basis for the redactions. Pl.’s Opp’n & Cross-Mot., Dkt. 20 at 7; see also 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(E). In June 2017, the parties filed a joint status report indicating that they had “narrowed the known issues in this matter to redactions within [the] two transcripts.” Dkt. 14 at 1. The Court ordered briefing, Dkt. 15, and the parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment, Dkts. 16, 20, 21. The case was reassigned to the undersigned judge on December 4, 2017. II. LEGAL STANDARDS Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure mandates that “[t]he court shall grant summary judgment if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). In FOIA litigation, when a federal agency moves for summary judgment, all facts and inferences must be viewed in the light most favorable to the requester, and the agency bears the burden of showing that it complied with FOIA. Chambers v. U.S. Dep’t of Interior, 568 F.3d 998, 1003 (D.C. Cir. 2009). To prevail under Rule 56, a federal agency “must prove that each document that falls within the class requested either has been produced, ...
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