Watchdog group sues for Christie-Kushner emails

A Mercer County lawsuit filed by MapLight, a California-based watchdog group, challenges the propriety of leaving to a private citizen and his private law firm the discretion to grant or deny access to public records. The private citizen in this case is the state’s former governor, and the records being sought are email communications relating 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 …

Judge orders Jersey City to fork over traffic summons data

A Superior Court judge in Hudson County has ruled that Jersey City must provide traffic summons data at no cost to a records requestor who had been assessed a special service charge of $1024 for the report.  Judge Joseph Turula opined that filling the request should not require an “extraordinary expenditure of time.”   This case also Read More …

DEP sued over refusal to release Liberty State Park report

A lawsuit filed against the New Jersey DEP seeks the release of a taxpayer-funded report that addresses how Liberty State Park can bring in revenue and that may shed light on privatization plans.  An OPRA request for the report has been denied on the grounds that it “is not considered a government record pursuant to Read More …