## Facts

- A newspaper publisher sought records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) concerning FEMA’s distribution of disaster assistance during the 2004 Florida hurricane season.
- The requests targeted computerized FEMA data for the Individuals and Households Program and related assistance, including recipient names, addresses, assistance amounts, and related fields.
- The requests were prompted in part by concerns about unusually large payouts in areas with comparatively modest storm effects and by audits and criminal prosecutions involving disaster-assistance fraud.
- FEMA produced some information but withheld or redacted data elements that could identify individual recipients, citing FOIA Exemption 6 (personal privacy).
- The newspaper sued under FOIA in federal district court; both sides moved for summary judgment.

## Issues

1. Whether FEMA’s disaster-assistance recipient data qualified as “personnel and medical files and similar files” under FOIA Exemption 6.
2. Whether disclosure of recipient names and/or addresses would constitute a “clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy” under Exemption 6’s balancing test.
3. Whether FOIA’s segregability requirement obligated FEMA to release non-exempt data fields (such as addresses and award amounts) while redacting exempt identifiers (such as names).

## Decision

- The court granted in part and denied in part the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment.
- The court ordered FEMA to disclose recipient addresses and related non-identifying award data because the public interest in oversight of FEMA’s administration of disaster funds outweighed the limited privacy interest in addresses standing alone.
- The court permitted FEMA to redact recipient names and certain other direct identifiers because the privacy interest in not being publicly identified as a disaster-aid recipient outweighed the marginal public interest served by disclosure of names.
- The court required field-by-field segregation and release of reasonably segregable, non-exempt information.

## Legal Principles

- FOIA Exemption 6 applies to compilations of personal information about individuals; courts apply a balancing test between personal privacy and the public interest in learning about government operations.
- The relevant public interest under FOIA is the extent to which disclosure sheds light on agency performance and use of public funds.
- Privacy interests may differ across data elements; names may present a greater privacy impact than address-level information when separated from names.
- FOIA requires agencies to disclose reasonably segregable non-exempt portions of records and permits redaction of exempt identifiers rather than categorical withholding.

## Conclusion

The court held that FOIA required partial disclosure of FEMA disaster-assistance databases: address-level and award information had to be released to enable public evaluation of FEMA’s allocation of substantial disaster funds, while names and comparable direct identifiers could be withheld under Exemption 6 to avoid a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.


Sun-Sentinel Co. v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., 431 F. Supp. 2d 1258 (S.D. Fla. 2006)