Center on Race Poverty & The Environment v. United States Environmental Protection Agency

Filing 33

ORDER re Vaughn Index. Signed by Judge Laurel Beeler on 8/26/2014. (lblc1S, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 8/26/2014)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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Northern District of California

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San Francisco Division
CENTER ON RACE, POVERTY, & THE
ENVIRONMENT,

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For the Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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No. C 12-5074 LB
ORDER RE VAUGHN INDEX

Plaintiff,
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v.
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UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL
AGENCY, et al.,

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Defendants.
_____________________________________/

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The court held a case management conference on August 21, 2014 to address the parties’
disagreements about the Vaughn index process. The court rules as follows.

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As to the 675 documents produced in redacted form, Defendant must sample 10 percent, and

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Plaintiff may pick an additional 40 documents. The parties should confer about how that will work,

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but one idea is for Defendant to identify its 10 percent by September 5, 2014, and Plaintiff to pick

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the additional 40 by September 10, 2014. The Vaughn index for these documents must be

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completed by September 30, 2014.

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As to the fully-withheld documents, there are 7,648. The court will allow sampling. The court

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directed the government to confer with Deloitte and Touche to see whether the withheld documents

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exist in any subcategories that would lend themselves to sampling by category. For example,

C 12-02797 WHO (LB)
ORDER

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custodians may afford a means of segregating documents in a way that makes sampling more

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meaningful. The government should inform Plaintiff as soon as possible and in any event no later

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than September 5, 2014 about whether the withheld documents fall into such subcategories. If they

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do not, then the court orders sampling of the entire 7,648 documents. Either way, the sampling

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percent is one percent. The government must provide a timeline for completion of the index to

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Defendants no later than September 5, 2014. If it is later than November 30, 2014, then the parties

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must seek further intervention from the court.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: August 26, 2014

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_______________________________
LAUREL BEELER
United States Magistrate Judge

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For the Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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C 12-02797 WHO (LB)
ORDER

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