Freedom of Information Act – Disclosure of Redacted Information

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Ben Baker v. Federal Bureau of Investigation

Case No.: 16-4188

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and POSNER and KANNE, Circuit Judges

Focus: Freedom of Information Act – Disclosure of Redacted Information

This appeal challenges a district court decision that dismissed with prejudice the plaintiff’s suit against the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(B). Initially the plaintiff, Baker, sued to obtain all records connected to an investigation in which he was interested, but the FBI gave him only redacted records, and so now he seeks disclosure of the redacted (i.e., hidden from him) names.

As for the names of the Chicago officers who either assisted the FBI or were investigated but not charged, Baker argues that, under Illinois law, Illinois public officials have no expectation of privacy in “information that bears on [their] public duties.” 5 ILCS 140/7(c). But this provision, which Baker relies on, is merely an exception to one of the categories of information exempt from disclosure under Illinois’s Freedom of Information Act; it provides that “Personal information contained within public records, the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy” is exempt from disclosure, but “disclosure of information that bears on the public duties of public employees and officials shall not be considered an invasion of personal privacy.”

Baker gives us no reason to believe that the Illinois Act determines the scope of FOIA exemptions, which are federal. The district court was correct, moreover, to express concern that disclosing the names of the Chicago officers could expose them to harassment without conferring an offsetting public benefit and would thus be an unwarranted invasion of their personal privacy. Last Baker asks us to remand the case to the district court for consideration of whether to award him attorneys’ fees on the ground that his suit had prompted the FBI to release extensive records that it had refused to produce until he sued. See Batton v. IRS, 718 F.3d 522, 525 (5th Cir. 2013). As he never asked the district court to award attorneys’ fees, there is no ruling on them for us to review—though as the district court’s judgment did not forbid him to seek an award of attorneys’ fees, he still can do so. See Anderson v. U.S. Dep’t of Health & Human Services, 3 F.3d 1383, 1385 (10th Cir. 1993).

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.