UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA DARIN JAMES, Plaintiff, v. Civil Action No. 19-00513 (TFH) DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Defendant. MEMORANDUM OPINION This matter is before the Court on the defendant’s motion for summary judgment, ECF No. 11. For the reasons discussed below, the motion for summary judgment will be granted. I. BACKGROUND The plaintiff, Darin James, a federal prisoner proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis, sues the Department of Justice, alleging violations of the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552, and Privacy Act (“Privacy Act” & “PA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552a. Compl., ECF No. 1, ¶¶ 1, 3. In late November 2017, the plaintiff submitted his FOIA/PA request to the Executive Office for United States Attorneys (“EOUSA”), requesting the release of the Oath of Office and Certificate of Appointment of Assistant United States Attorney (“AUSA”) Mark Wilson, 1 of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. Id. ¶ 10; Compl. Attach. A; Def.’s statement of material facts (“Def.’s Stmt.”) ¶ 1; Declaration of Ebony Griffin (“Griffin Decl.”), ECF No. 11-1, ¶ 5. 1 In the complaint, the plaintiff indicates that his FOIA/PA request also sought the Oath of Office and Certificate of Appointment of AUSA, Jose Bunoa, Compl. ¶ 10, however, his actual request, which he attaches as an exhibit, makes no mention of Mr. Bunoa, see Compl. Attach. A. On December 19, 2017, EOUSA directed staff from the Office of the United States Attorney (“USAO”) to search for records responsive to the request, numbered 2018-001170. Griffin Decl. ¶¶ 5–6. USAO staff searched by various keywords within internal electronic and web-enabled records and Microsoft Outlook Office records. Id. ¶ 6, n.1. As a result of this first search, no records were found, and, on January 9, 2018, a determination letter was sent to the plaintiff stating same. Id. ¶¶ 6–7; Def.’s Attach. B. On April 20, 2018, the plaintiff appealed the determination to the Office of Information Policy, which affirmed the agency’s decision from EOUSA on June 5, 2018. Griffin Decl. ¶ 8; Def.’s Attach. C. The plaintiff filed the complaint in this matter on February 21, 2019. After it was served with process and received notice of this litigation, EOUSA revisited the plaintiff’s request and determined that the “duty location” for Mr. Wilson was with the USAO for the Southern District of Florida (“USAO-SDFL”). Griffin Decl. ¶ 11; Declaration of Francys Marcenaros (“Marcenaros Decl.”) (Def.’s Attach. E) ¶ 4. Given that information, EOUSA asked the USAO-SDFL to conduct a search for all records potentially responsive to the plaintiff’s request. Id. USAO-SDFL human resources staff coordinated with Francys Marcenaros, a FOIA Paralegal Specialist with USAO-SDFL, to search and locate responsive records. Griffin Decl. ¶ 6–9; Marcenaros Decl. ¶ 1, 5–6. Responsive documents were retrieved from the Special Assistant United States Attorney (“SAUSA”) personnel file drawer. Marcenaros Decl. ¶ 6. On June 6, 2019, the USAO-SDFL submitted the records to EOUSA for review and processing. Id. ¶ 8; Griffin Decl. ...
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