Incident reports regarding jail fatality are disclosable under OPRA

Upholding a lower court, an Appellate Court ruled on 6/4/2018 that incident reports relating to a Union County jail inmate’s death are disclosable, subject to appropriate redactions for personal identifiers. The Court rejected the argument that an incident report is exempt from disclosure as a medical record.   NJ Open Government Notes Appeals court rules Read More …

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 …

Appellate Court rules 2-1 for disclosure of dash-cam video

In a split 2-to-1 decision issued on 8/28/2017, an Appellate Court granted a Lakewood resident access to a dash-cam video of a traffic stop that resulted in the arrest and indictment of a police officer.   NJ Law Journal NJ Appeals Court Opens Avenue to Police Dashcam Videos by Michael Booth August 28, 2017   Read More …

CASE SUMMARY: Digital First Media v. Township of Readington, et al.

Case Name: Digital First Media v. Township of Readington, et al Docket Number: HNT-L-427-16 County: Hunterdon Filing Date: September 30, 2016 Presiding Judge: Yolanda Ciccone Status: Disclosure stayed pending appeal   Overview: The court ruled that Readington Township must provide a newspaper with a patrol car’s dash-cam video of the August 26, 2016 drunk-driving arrest Read More …

Lawsuit seeks settlement docs/terms prior to formal signing of agreement

Settlement agreements involving governmental agencies or officials are public records.  However, public agencies often balk at releasing these records or disclose only the final signed agreement at best. Settlements often involve large sums of public money, whether paid by a governmental agency or its insurer (taxpayer-funded premiums are commensurate with payments under the policy), but formalization Read More …