Public Citizen v. United States Department of Health & Human Services

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• finding that IRO reports are commercial because they include information on “marketing and sales programs and contracting processes”
• stating that “there’s no need to resolve” whether “privately held information lose[s] its confidential character for purposes of Exemption 4 if it’s communicated to the government without assurances that the government will keep it private”
• explaining that information disclosing “intimate aspects of a . . . business such as supply chains” is “plainly” commercial (quoting Watkins v. U.S. Bur. of Customs and Border Protection, 643 F.3d 1189, 1195 (9th Cir. 2011))
• denying summary judgment where, “[w]ithout more information about the commercial nature of the information contained in the disclosure log summaries, the Court has insufficient information to evaluate whether these documents are being properly withheld”
• rejecting as “commercial” under Exemption 4 a person’s name, title, and responsibilities
• “‘[C]ommerical’ is generally defined to mean ‘engaged in commerce’ or ‘having reference to, or bearing on commerce.’”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).