Middlesex County Judge rules special service charge not warranted

Superior Court Judge Travis Francis ruled that the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s $685 special service charge for civil forfeiture records requested by the ACLU is unjustified because gathering the records does not require a “Herculean effort”. Francis cited compliance by other agencies and limited the charge to the statutory fee for paper copies.   NJ Advance Read More …

Commentary on the “No need to confirm nor deny” Appellate ruling

by Raymond Baldino, Esq.   NJFOG foreword: On 8/31/16, the Appellate Division upheld a lower court ruling that the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office could respond to an OPRA request by North Jersey Media by neither confirming nor denying the existence of records related to a Catholic priest who had not been arrested or charged with Read More …

OK to neither confirm nor deny records exist, says Appellate Court

In 2013, North Jersey Media sought records from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office relating to a Catholic priest who had not been arrested or charged with a crime. The agency denied the request and neither confirmed nor denied the existence of records responsive to it. The media outfit sued and lost at the trial level. Read More …

CASE SUMMARY: LFTG v. Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, et al.

Case Name:  LFTG v. Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, et al. Docket Number:  MID-L-005006-16 County / Vicinage:  Middlesex Filing Date:  August 26, 2016 Presiding Judge:  Francis, Travis L. Status:  Open   Overview: This lawsuit seeks records pertaining to the June 2, 2016 death of Daniel Nagahama. The only information thus far released about the twenty-eight year Read More …

CASE SUMMARY: Libertarians for Transparent Government (LFTG) v. Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office

Case Name: Libertarians for Transparent Government (LFTG) v. Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office Docket Number: BUR-L-1567-16 County / Vicinage: Burlington (originally filed in Mercer Co., but transferred to Burlington Co.) Filing Date: July 21, 2016 Judge: Bookbinder, Ronald Status: Open (as of 11/28/2016)   Overview: This case stems from a June 7, 2016 Trentonian article entitled Read More …