City erroneously claims a police excessive force settlement is under court seal

The City of Bayonne told The Jersey Journal that a settlement agreement involving a police excessive force lawsuit had been sealed by a federal judge and could not be released. The news outlet filed an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) complaint in Superior Court. The OPRA judge didn’t rule for or against release, but had Read More …

GRC rejects Kearny’s 2-page limit on electronic delivery of OPRA responses

(UPDATE 2/2/2017):  The GRC has rejected Kearny’s page limit for electronic responses and says that the delivery method of the response is the requestor’s choice. If records can be emailed to you (for free) at your request, they must be! — (April 7, 2016) A Denial of Access complaint has been filed with the Government Read More …

Closed session minutes were not typed up, Kearny Clerk admits

Records requestors seeking minutes of non-public (closed or executive) session meetings often encounter roadblocks, from outright denials to delays to complete redactions. And in some cases, minutes are just a few lines long consisting of boiler plate language that offers no real information. Sometimes there is even a question as to whether minutes have been Read More …

Two courts rule for release of informal or draft settlement documents. Two more cases pending.

A 9/14/2016 decision by an Essex County Superior Court judge favored a records requestor seeking a settlement confirmation letter pertaining to a lawsuit against Caldwell Borough. The court ruled that the letter was disclosable under OPRA even though the settlement had not been formally approved. That makes two such decisions now supporting the early release Read More …

CASE SUMMARY: Libertarians for Transparent Government (LFTG) v. City of Jersey City

  Case Name: Libertarians for Transparent Government (LFTG) v. City of Jersey City Docket Number: HUD-L-002952-16 County / Vicinage: Hudson Filing Date: July 21, 2016 Judge: D’Alessandro, Daniel Status: Closed.   Overview: This case determined that an Open Public Records Act requestor was entitled to a handwritten settlement agreement even though the handwritten agreement expressly Read More …