If your appeal is denied, or if the agency fails to respond to your appeal within 20 working days, you may file a FOI Act lawsuit in the United States District Court most convenient to you, nearest the agency office where the records are kept or in the District of Columbia. Though technically you have up to six years after the date on which your appeal was denied to file a lawsuit, you should try to file the suit as soon as possible in order to demonstrate to the court your need for the information.¹⁷

The Federal Courts Improvement Act removed the automatic expedited judicial review provisions from a number of statutes, including the FOI Act. However, under that law expedited review will still be given by a court whenever “good cause” can be shown. The statute does acknowledge that in FOI Act cases the need for timely release of information will qualify under the “good cause” standard.¹⁸

Although there are immediate financial costs for filing any complaint in federal District Court, filing an FOI Act complaint should be relatively inexpensive and simple. Sometimes, as soon as a complaint is filed, the government will capitulate and release documents without further litigation. Federal courts do allow non-lawyers to file complaints against the government without the assistance of an attorney. If your case is a more or less routine denial of documents that you think are clearly covered by the FOI Act, you may wish to draft and file your own “short-form” complaint using the Sample FOI Act Complaint, Appendix C.

Also consider filing a “Motion for Vaughn Index” using the Sample Vaughn Motion in Appendix D. This is a formal request asking the court to order the government to give you an index describing the documents it is withholding and the justification it claims for withholding each piece of information.¹⁹

However, while a Vaughn index is extremely useful in establishing your case, it may not be granted immediately by the court if you ask for it along with your complaint. You must often wait until the government has answered your complaint before the court will consider your motion for a Vaughn index.

If your case appears to be complex or to involve special problems, you might want to obtain the services of a private attorney. You may contact The FOI Service Center to help you decide if an attorney would be helpful.

After you file your complaint, the burden is on the government to come forward and justify the withholding of the information. Courts often demand that the government show precise and detailed reasons why it refuses to release the information. When the government replies, you will obtain a fairly good indication of how strong or weak its case is and how much it will cost to continue the lawsuit.

The Act provides for the payment of your attorneys fees and court costs if a judge decides that you “substantially prevailed” in your lawsuit. This generally means that you won release of some significant portion of the information that had been improperly withheld by the government as a result of your lawsuit.

Some courts will not award you attorneys fees if you have argued your case yourself or if the government provided you the information after you filed your case but before it was actually heard.

Next section: Provisions for employee sanctions