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An appellate court has ruled that unnamed state officials could face civil penalties for failing to release Bridgegate-related documents sought by a news outlet under the Open Public Records Act. New Jersey Law Journal Unidentified Christie Aides Subject to Bridgegate OPRA Fines by Michael Booth August 3, 2017
In this Records Act case involving the City of Orange (Essex County), the the Government Records Council (GRC) found that there was no knowing and willful violation of OPRA, but the Appellate Division ruled that there was evidence of it and reversed the GRC. The case was remanded to the GRC. The Appellate Division’s June Read More …
Use of only a defendant’s initials in an Appellate Court opinion masked the lower court’s errors resulting in the Appellate level reversal of a felony conviction. Newspapers that covered the earlier conviction — and stated the felon’s name — were made aware of the reversal by NJFOG’s John Paff, who periodically reviews Appellate rulings and Read More …
The Appellate Division has affirmed a lower court ruling that Choose New Jersey, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit, is not subject to OPRA. The opinion is online HERE. Choose New Jersey stated that it is entirely funded by private sources and that no governmental entity selects its board, controls how its business is conducted, or can Read More …
An Appellate Court has okayed redaction of requestor info other than name — that is, address, email, and phone — from 54 OPRA requests provided in response to a “request for OPRA requests.” The Appellate Court upheld the trial court ruling. NJFOG officer Walter Luers points out, “…[W]e can easily imagine facts and circumstances where Read More …