Bergen Judge rules OPRA requestor does not need to provide address

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Paramus Borough required an OPRA requestor to provide his address on the grounds that non-residents of New Jersey are not entitled to records under OPRA. A Bergen Judge ruled that the Borough violated OPRA by not providing the records.

Recent court opinions have differed on whether an out-of-state residents have standing under New Jersey’s OPRA law. Courts in Burlington, Ocean, and Gloucester Counties ruled non-residents have standing. Courts in Cape May and Atlantic Counties ruled they don’t. The ACLU-NJ has appealed the Atlantic County decision. “…[The Bergen] decision is important because it recognizes that a citizenship requirement ruling would not only bar out-of-state journalists and others from utilizing OPRA, but that it would inevitably result in citizens…having to jump through numerous hoops to satisfy…[an] agency that they are indeed citizens.” –C.J. Griffin, esq.

 

 

Patch.com | Mahwah Patch
Bergen Town Loses Public Records Case
by Daniel Hubbard
April 3, 2017