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This memorandum opinion by U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, dated March 27, 2007, rules in Leslie Kean's FOIA suit against NASA over records about the object said to have crashed in Kecksburg, Pennsylvania on December 9, 1965. The court found NASA had not shown its searches were adequate and noted likely overlooked Cosmos 96 records. It upheld NASA's withholding of two emails under Exemption 5 and ordered the parties to propose new search procedures.
20 CONCLUSION As defendant has validly withheld the two disputed emails pursuant to FOIA Exemption 5, defendant’s motion for summary judgment is GRANTED in part with respect to the withholdings. Defendant, however, has failed to demonstrate that its searches for responsive documents were adequate, so its motion for summary judgment is DENIED in part with respect to the searches. Because NASA’s searches may have been adequate, and may only suffer from a lack of documentation, this denial is without prejudice. For the same reason, plaintiff’s cross-motion for summary judgment is DENIED without prejudice. In order to generate a proper record for the Court of defendant’s search for responsive documents, the Court directs the parties to propose search and documentation procedures that will ensure the creation of a proper record. See, e.g., Judicial Watch, Inc., v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, 337 F. Supp. 2d. 146, 158-59 (D.D.C. 2004) (describing special search and documentation procedures for second search after initial search was found inadequate under FOIA). The parties are directed to confer and jointly propose search and documentation procedures appropriate for this case. The parties’ joint proposal is due to the Court no later than April 30, 2007. If the parties cannot agree on a proposal, separate proposals from each party are due to the Court Case 1:03-cv-02509-EGS Document 45 Filed 03/27/07 Page 20 of 21
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