Batton v. Internal Revenue Service, No. 12-20401 (5th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff appealed the district court's denial of his motion for attorneys' fees in his Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552, suit against the IRS. The court applied the Open Government Act, 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(4)(E)(ii)(II), and concluded that plaintiff was eligible to attorneys' fees where he filed his FOIA suit after enduring the IRS's continued and unexplained delays in responding to his request for almost a year; only after he filed and served his lawsuit did the IRS first begin to produce some of the responsive documents; and the remaining documents were still not produced for years following further litigation. Accordingly, the court vacated the judgment and remanded for the district court to assess plaintiff's entitlement.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.