It's important to use the right words when filing a Freedom of Information Act. A ruling Monday by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth illustrates.

Lamberth was considering a claim by the law firm Carter, Fullerton and Hayes, which had filed a FOIA request seeking Federal Trade Commission documents concerning investigations of the alcohol industry. The request cited "documents…relating to malt beverages; malt beverage manufacturers; and distilled spirits wholesalers/distributors; malt beverage, wine and distilled spirits retailers."

Belatedly, following filing of the lawsuit, the FTC discovered numerous documents that had not been previously released to Carter, Fullerton and Hayes. Here's the trade commission's explanation for the delay:

"Although Plaintiff’s FOIA request sought documents related to regulation of ‘alcohol,’ ‘wine,’ ‘spirits’ and ‘malt beverages,’ Plaintiff did not ask the FTC to search for documents containing the term ‘liquor.’"

Suits & Sentences note to self: completely exhaust Roget's Thesaurus when filing next FOIA request.

Carter, Fullerton and Hayes contended the FTC's explanation "strains credulity" and argued the firm should not need to invoke certain "magic words" in order to obtain a reasonable FOIA response.

For an assortment of reasons -- and the magic words business was not the real foundation of this dispute -- Lambeth sided with the FTC and dismissed the FOIA suit