When the government doesn’t respond to your Freedom of Information Law (“FOIL”) request, you may need to bring an Article 78 proceeding to compel them to do so.
Article 78 refers to the article within the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules (“CPLR”) where a person can challenge the action of a government agency.
The reason for this action was because my client made FOIL requests to the Department of Environmental Conservation (“DEC”) and they did not adequately respond.
The attached document are the reply papers of my client. This means the action has already started and the defendants (in this case, called the “respondents”) have served their opposition papers. So that means I got the chance to get the last word in opposing the arguments of the respondents. The combined document consists of an affirmation in support, exhibits, the reply memorandum of law and the affirmation of service.