Forest Guardians v. United States Federal Emergency Management Agency

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) was a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) (defendant) program that used a combination of federal funds and private insurance companies to provide flood insurance in flood plains. Forest Guardians (plaintiff) was a conservation organization that was exploring whether the NFIP harmed endangered species by encouraging development in flood-plain areas. As part of its research, Forest Guardians made a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to FEMA for the names of NFIP policyholders who lived in certain flood plains in New Mexico. FEMA found that providing the policyholders’ names would invade those individuals’ privacy and instead provided printed maps that displayed the approximate location of structures in the requested areas. Forest Guardians then made a second FOIA request for the electronic version of the maps. FEMA refused the request, claiming that it had already provided the nonprivate information in the printed maps and that even redacted copies of the electronic versions would reveal enough location information to allow someone to figure out the policyholders’ names and addresses. Forest Guardians sued to compel FEMA to provide the electronic maps. The district court found that the personal information in the electronic maps meant that they were exempt from FOIA and dismissed the claim. Forest Guardians appealed to the Tenth Circuit.