( December 12, 2025, 11:55 AM EST) -- NEW YORK — A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request submitted to the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) was improperly found by a trial court to fall within the FOIA’s fee-preclusion provision and instead falls under the SSA’s cost-reimbursement provision, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, reversing a trial court’s order that the FOIA requestor be refunded for the FOIA fees he was charged and vacating the award for attorney fees and costs as the requestor did not “substantially” prevail under the FOIA....