In the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

AUGUST TERM 2021

No. 21-211-cv

THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY, DOW JONES & COMPANY, INC., CHRISTOPHER WEAVER, Plaintiffs-Appellees,

v.

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, Defendant-Appellant. ∗

On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York

ARGUED: SEPTEMBER 23, 2021 DECIDED: SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

∗ The Clerk of Court is directed to amend the caption as set forth above. Before: CABRANES, POOLER, and BIANCO, Circuit Judges.

Defendant United States Department of Health and Human Services appeals from the January 22, 2021, judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Gorenstein, M.J.) granting summary judgment to Plaintiffs The New York Times Company, Dow Jones & Company, Inc., and Christopher Weaver. This appeal presents the question of whether a report evaluating the Indian Health Service’s management and administration is a “medical quality assurance record” under 25 U.S.C. § 1675, and thus exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(3). We find that it is not, and, accordingly, AFFIRM the ruling of the district court.

MATTHEW E. KELLEY (Seth D. Berlin, on the brief), Ballard Spahr LLP, Washington, DC, (David E. McCraw, Alexandra Settelmayer, The New York Times Company, New York, NY, on the brief) for Plaintiffs-Appellees.

JENNIFER C. SIMON (Benjamin H. Torrance, on the brief), Assistant United States Attorneys, for Audrey Strauss, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, New York, NY, for Defendant- Appellant.

2 PER CURIAM:

This appeal presents the following question: Is a report evaluating the Indian Health Service’s management and administration a “medical quality assurance record” under 25 U.S.C. § 1675 that is exempt from disclosure pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(3)? Finding that it is not, we AFFIRM the judgment of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (Gorenstein, M.J.). 1

I. BACKGROUND

Stanley Patrick Weber, a pediatrician, began working for the Indian Health Service (“IHS") in the mid-1980s. In 1992, he moved to an IHS hospital in Browning, Montana. Soon thereafter, community members and IHS staff began to suspect that he was a pedophile. Their reasons for suspicion included seeing Weber with boys at Pizza Hut, hearing about an arranged camping trip with future patients, and

1 The Parties consented to proceed before the Magistrate Judge for all purposes pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(c).

3 learning that he had hosted young people at his home. Weber’s supervisor confronted him, and the hospital’s CEO alerted IHS officials.

In 1995, rather than firing Weber, IHS transferred him to a hospital in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. Suspicions of pedophilia followed Weber to South Dakota. However, despite at least two investigations—and excepting a temporary suspension during one of them—Weber continued to work for IHS in South Dakota for 20 years.

In 2018, Weber was convicted in the United States District Court for