Consumers Union of the United States v. Consumer Product Safety Commission
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
590 F.2d 1209 (D.C. Cir. 1978)
The Consumers Union (plaintiff) sued the Consumer Product Safety Commission (defendant) under FOIA for television-set safety information, but much of the requested data was subject to a preliminary (later permanent) injunction obtained by television manufacturers in a separate reverse-FOIA suit in Delaware federal court, to which the Union was never a party; the district court found no case or controversy given the Commission's willingness to share the data, and after appeals and remand from the Supreme Court, the D.C. Circuit had to determine whether the Delaware injunction barred the Union's continued pursuit of its FOIA suit.
Whether a judgment blocking the disclosure of certain information through a reverse-FOIA action necessarily bars future information-requesters from filing a suit under FOIA demanding the disclosure of that information.