JOHN DOE AGENCY v. JOHN DOE CORPORATION

Legal Principle at Issue

Does Exemption 7 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) permit federal agencies to withhold documents originally created for non-law-enforcement purposes but subsequently compiled for a criminal investigation, when disclosure could interfere with enforcement proceedings?

Action

Reversed and remanded. Petitioning party received a favorable disposition.

Facts/Syllabus

In connection with a 1978 periodic audit, respondent defense contractor and petitioner Defense Contract Auditing Agency (DCAA) corresponded concerning respondent's accounting treatment of certain costs. Eight years later, a federal grand jury investigating possible fraudulent practices by respondent issued a subpoena requesting respondent's documents relating to the 1978 cost allocation question. Respondent submitted to the DCAA a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for any documents relating to the subject matter of their correspondence. The DCAA denied the request citing Exemption 7(A) of the FOIA, which exempts from disclosure "records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes" under certain circumstances. Two days later, the requested records were transferred to petitioner Federal Bureau of Investigation, which denied respondent's renewed FOIA request, citing Exemption 7(A). 

Respondent sought review in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, which ruled that petitioners were not required to turn over any of the documents and dismissed the complaint, stating that disclosure would jeopardize the grand jury proceeding. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed, ruling that the Government may not invoke Exemption 7(A) to protect from disclosure materials that were not investigatory records when originally collected, but have since acquired investigative significance.