A United States federal court has rejected a request by Aaron Greenspan seeking permission to obtain limited discovery from Nigerian President Bola Tinubu and DCI Group in an ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit involving American law enforcement agencies.
The US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that Greenspan’s proposed discovery concerning alleged cyberattacks on his website was not sufficiently relevant to the underlying dispute involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The court held that FOIA proceedings could not be used to pursue discovery on issues unrelated to the legal questions before it.
The ruling reinforces the principle that parties in FOIA litigation must keep their requests within the scope of the dispute, rather than introduce unrelated allegations into the proceedings.
The court also denied a separate application by non-party Karl Von Batten seeking permission to submit an amicus curiae brief, a document filed by someone who is not directly involved in a case but wishes to offer information or legal arguments.
Greenspan’s related request for judicial notice was also rejected.
The decisions establish procedural limits on the issues and materials the court will consider as the FOIA litigation proceeds.
Appellate advocate Christopher W. Carmichael said the rejection of the discovery request targeting Tinubu and DCI Group underscored the importance of keeping litigation focused on issues properly before the court.
Another defence counsel, Oluwole Afolabi, also argued that the court’s decisions on the applications reflected the need to maintain a clear focus on the substantive issues in the case.
The latest rulings clarify the procedural boundaries governing the litigation. However, the rejection of the discovery request does not, by itself, amount to a determination of the underlying allegations concerning the reported cyberattacks or the merits of the FOIA dispute involving the FBI and DEA.
