context: Voluntary production of documents prior to a final judgment ordering their production does not allow the government to avoid a fee award.
citation_a.signal: see
citation_a.identifier: 411 F.Supp. 897, 902
citation_a.parenthetical: "It is inconceivable ... that the recovery of attorneys' fees could be foreclosed whenever the government chooses to moot an action under the [FOIA] by supplying, during the pendency of the litigation, the material sought in the complaint."
citation_a.sentence: See Church of Scientology, 700 F.2d at 491; Kaye v. Burns, 411 F.Supp. 897, 902 (S.D.N.Y.1976) (“It is inconceivable ... that the recovery of attorneys’ fees could be foreclosed whenever the government chooses to moot an action under the [FOIA] by supplying, during the pendency of the litigation, the material sought in the complaint.”); Vermont Low Income, 546 F.2d at 513 (“Congress clearly did not mean that where [a] FOIA suit had gone to trial and developments made it apparent that the judge was about to rule for the plaintiff, the Government could abort any award of attorney fees by an eleventh hour tender of the information requested.”); Cuneo v. Rumsfeld, 553 F.2d 1360, 1364-65 (D.C.Cir.1977) (surveying cases that held that a surrender of documents before final judicial action did not preclude a grant of fees); see also Cuneo, 553 F.2d at 1365 (“The case would never have reached the status it did if appellant had not doggedly pursued the matter.”); Exner, 443 F.Supp. at 1353 (plaintiffs “dogged determination” in a vigorous and hard-fought litigation, where the “government presented a very formidable opposition” and “[v]irtually everything the plaintiff attempted to do was vigorously opposed,” showed that the lawsuit was the cause of the production).
citation_b.signal: see also
citation_b.identifier: 553 F.2d 1365, 1365
citation_b.parenthetical: "The case would never have reached the status it did if appellant had not doggedly pursued the matter."
citation_b.sentence: See Church of Scientology, 700 F.2d at 491; Kaye v. Burns, 411 F.Supp. 897, 902 (S.D.N.Y.1976) (“It is inconceivable ... that the recovery of attorneys’ fees could be foreclosed whenever the government chooses to moot an action under the [FOIA] by supplying, during the pendency of the litigation, the material sought in the complaint.”); Vermont Low Income, 546 F.2d at 513 (“Congress clearly did not mean that where [a] FOIA suit had gone to trial and developments made it apparent that the judge was about to rule for the plaintiff, the Government could abort any award of attorney fees by an eleventh hour tender of the information requested.”); Cuneo v. Rumsfeld, 553 F.2d 1360, 1364-65 (D.C.Cir.1977) (surveying cases that held that a surrender of documents before final judicial action did not preclude a grant of fees); see also Cuneo, 553 F.2d at 1365 (“The case would never have reached the status it did if appellant had not doggedly pursued the matter.”); Exner, 443 F.Supp. at 1353 (plaintiffs “dogged determination” in a vigorous and hard-fought litigation, where the “government presented a very formidable opposition” and “[v]irtually everything the plaintiff attempted to do was vigorously opposed,” showed that the lawsuit was the cause of the production).