Agency Missed FOIA Deadline — Paid Consultation on What That Changes
A paid consultation with Sherrod Seward, Esq. for requesters whose agency blew the statutory time limit and then said nothing at all.
An agency ordinarily has twenty working days to make a determination on a request, with a short further period available in unusual circumstances and only if it tells you in writing. Missing that is common, and it changes your position rather than merely being irritating: where an agency fails to comply with the applicable time limits, a requester may be treated as having exhausted the administrative remedies, which can open the courthouse door without an appeal. You will leave the call knowing whether that has happened on your dates and what the sensible next move is.
Prefer to speak to someone first? +1 (202) 999-3631
Request the consultation
Six fields. About a minute.
Bring the call one of these
- You filed months ago and have had nothing but an acknowledgement.
- You are told you are in a queue, with no date attached to it.
- You do not know whether to keep waiting, to appeal, or to file.
- The agency invoked unusual circumstances and then went silent.
- You need the records for something that is already scheduled.
Missing the deadline opens a door, and the door can close again
Two points decide what to do. The first is that treating the remedies as exhausted is a position available while the agency is in default, not a permanent status: where the agency issues its determination before suit is filed, the ordinary route back through the administrative appeal returns. Waiting is therefore not a neutral act. The second is that a court may allow an agency more time where the government shows exceptional circumstances and that it is exercising due diligence, so a suit built on delay alone is not a formality either. Which side of that your matter sits on depends on the dates and on what the agency has actually put in writing to you.
This office has been the plaintiff, not only the drafter
Law Offices of Sherrod Seward, PLLC v. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
No. 3:25-cv-00057 (W.D.N.C.), filed January 2025
This office has been the plaintiff in a Freedom of Information Act case, not only the drafter of the request. When an agency declined to produce records, the firm filed suit in its own name under 5 U.S.C. 552 to compel production.
A pending matter is described here as a fact about this office's own experience. It is not a result, it does not predict anything about any other case, and every case is decided on its own record. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
How it runs
- Send the enquiryThe form below. Six fields, about a minute.
- Pay the consultation fee$500, on the firm's secure payment page. Credited in full against the fee for the engagement if this office is engaged on the matter.
- The consultationThe call itself. Bring the request, the response letter and the envelope — deadlines run from what the paper says.
- A written summaryWhat was decided, what the next step is, and the date it has to happen by.
Watch first
Questions people actually ask
What do I actually get for the fee?
The $500 is the fee for the consultation itself and for the written summary that follows it. It is not a retainer, and it does not include drafting or filing a FOIA request, an administrative appeal, a licence application, a delisting petition, a federal court complaint, a trademark application, a response to a USPTO office action, or a post-registration maintenance filing - each of those is separately scoped and separately quoted. Government, agency and court filing fees, any agency search, review or duplication fees, and any USPTO filing fees, are not included and are payable to the government, not to this office. On a government contract matter it likewise does not include preparing or certifying a claim to a contracting officer, a request for equitable adjustment, a termination settlement proposal, an agency-level protest, a protest at the Government Accountability Office, an appeal to an agency board of contract appeals, or a complaint in the United States Court of Federal Claims - each of those is separately scoped and separately quoted.
Is this legal advice?
The consultation is. This page is not — it is general information about federal practice, and reading it creates no relationship with this office. Sending this form does not create an attorney-client relationship. No attorney-client relationship is formed until this office and you have signed a written engagement agreement.
Can you tell me what my chances are?
You will get a candid assessment of what your record supports and where it is thin, which is the useful version of that question. What you will not get is a percentage. Every matter is decided on its own record by a government officer or a judge, and prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
What happens if you cannot help?
You will be told so on the call, and told where the matter actually belongs. That happens often enough to be worth saying out loud.
How long does an agency actually have?
Ordinarily twenty working days to make a determination, with a further short extension available in unusual circumstances and only on written notice to you. The period can also be tolled while the agency reasonably awaits information it has asked you for, or while a fee question is unresolved. That is why the honest answer is a date read off your own correspondence rather than a number quoted from the statute.
Should I sue, appeal, or keep waiting?
That is the decision the call exists for, and it is a judgement rather than a rule. It turns on how long the delay has run, what the agency has said in writing, whether the records are needed for something with a date on it, and what a suit would realistically cost against what it would realistically move. You will get a candid answer, including when the answer is to wait.