UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA WHITE COAT WASTE PROJECT Plaintiff, v. No. 17-cv-2264 (EGS) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, Defendant. MEMORANDUM OPINION I. Introduction Plaintiff White Coat Waste Project (“WCW”), a non-profit organization that monitors federally-funded animal experiments, brings this Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552, against the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”), seeking to obtain certain records about canine experiments at the Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center (“Stokes VAMC”) in Ohio. The dog experiments have prompted speculation and resulted in protests. Stokes VAMC eventually released responsive documents, invoking certain FOIA exemptions based on the nature of the animal research and the privacy interests of its principal investigators and other research personnel. Following Stokes VAMC’s productions, WCW’s administrative appeals of certain withholdings, and the filing of this action, the remaining dispute is quite narrow. WCW solely seeks the name of the principal investigator on a research protocol for dog experiments at Stokes VAMC. Pending before the Court are the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment. Upon careful consideration of the parties’ submissions, the applicable law, and the entire record herein, the Court concludes that FOIA Exemption 5’s deliberative process privilege does not justify withholding the principal investigator’s name, and that the Court finds that the VA has failed to provide it with sufficient information to determine whether the principal investigator’s name was properly withheld under Exemption 6. Therefore, the Court GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment and GRANTS IN PART, DENIES IN PART, and HOLDS IN ABEYANCE Plaintiff’s Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment. The Court DENIES WITHOUT PREJUDICE WCW’s requests for in camera review and the production of the animal research protocol, and DEFERS ruling on the issue of whether the agency has “officially acknowledged” the principal investigator’s name. II. Background WCW is a non-profit organization with a mission “to expose and end wasteful taxpayer-funded animal experiments.” Def.’s Statement of Material Facts (“Def.’s SOMF”), ECF No. 20-1 at 1 ¶ 1 (quoting Compl., ECF No. 1 at 2 ¶ 4); see also Pl.’s Counter- Statement of Material Facts (“Pl.’s SOMF”), ECF No. 21-2 at 1 ¶ 2 1 (same). 1 As part of its investigation into the VA’s dog experiments, WCW submitted a FOIA request to Stokes VAMC on April 3, 2017, seeking the following records: (1) A current census of all dogs actively held and used in the Stokes VAMC laboratories (including each animal’s ID number, breed, name, color and distinctive markings, date of birth, source, USDA pain category, and assigned protocol); (2) Photographs and videos of these or other dogs used in Stokes VAMC labs (from January 1, 2010 to the present); (3) Active [Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee]-approved protocols to which these dogs are assigned; and (4) Animal welfare incident reports association with the aforementioned projects (from January 1, 2010 to the present). 2 Compl., ECF No. 1 at 2 ¶ 8; see also Def.’s SOMF, ECF No. 20-1 at ...
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