New Jersey Foundation for Open Government
Shining a light on local government
North Bergen School Board wouldn’t cooperate with the state comptroller’s audit request, wanted first to know why they were picked, spent tax dollars to fight it and lost at both the trial and appellate court levels. NJFOG treasurer John Paff described the situation as follows: “In 2015, the State Comptroller decided to conduct a performance Read More …
Stop & Shop filed a declaratory judgment lawsuit against Bergen County after a record was first disclosed to them with a 2nd OPRA request several years after their first request. The record, though responsive to the first request, was not specifically requested. In this particular set of circumstances, the Appellate Court rejected the suit, in Read More …
Is asking for information versus a specific record(s) grounds for denial under OPRA? A Monmouth County Court said NO, at least in the case of certain employee information sought pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-10, specifically “an individual’s name, title, position, salary, payroll record, length of service, date of separation and the reason therefor, and the amount Read More …
Sometimes a public agency’s defense for not providing records in response to an OPRA request is that the agency isn’t subject to OPRA. However, courts have found that some pseudo-governmental non-profits and so-called “private” organizations are indeed subject to the State’s Records Act. One such instance involves the New Jersey Insurance Underwriting Association (NJIUA), which Read More …
Ocean County Superior Court Assignment Judge Marlene Lynch Ford ruled on 4/03/2017 that Lavallette Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 is an “instrumentality” of Lavallette Borough and subject to the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) because it “has been delegated the obligation to meet the public safety and police function of firefighting.” Judge Ford also ruled Read More …