The New York Times published an great article yesterday, titled "How The Times Uses FOIA to Obtain Information The Public Has A Right To Know." The article explains why the Times firmly believes that challenging an agency's response to a public records request is important to transparency.
Key quote:
Although smaller newspapers usually do not have in-house counsel to litigate public records lawsuits, in New Jersey OPRA provides a fee-shifting mechanism to make it possible for to find competent counsel who will litigate denials on a contingency basis. Newspapers, journalists, and ...
According to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-6, a records requestor who prevails in any proceeding shall be entitled to an award of reasonable attorneys' fees. We have written about OPRA's fee-shifting provision before, noting that without the fee-shift most requestors would not have the funds to challenge denials of access. As a result, the state would be far less transparent.
On August 14, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued an important published opinion relating to OPRA's mandatory fee-shifting provision.
The case, titled Golden v. New Jersey Institute for ...
When Pashman Stein Walder Hayden P.C. partners CJ Griffin and Samuel J. Samaro received the unanimous decision in North Jersey Media Group Inc. v. Twp. of Lyndhurst, 229 N.J. 541 (2017), from the New Jersey Supreme Court on July 11, 2017, it was clear that this hard-fought matter was a landmark case that would have significant impact on transparency about the use of force by police in the state of New Jersey. The Court had granted access via the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) and common law to police records and dash cam footage of a high-speed police chase and the fatal use of force on ...
Last week, Bergen County Assignment Judge Bonnie J. Mizdol issued an opinion finding that the Borough of North Arlington unlawfully imposed a special service charge upon a records requestor who sought records from the Borough's Facebook pages.
The OPRA request at issue in Wronko v. North Arlington sought the list of individuals who had been banned from the Borough's Facebook page, as well as a list of any words that had been censored and the list of page administrators. In response, the Borough insisted it needed to use an outside IT consultant to capture the screenshots necessary to ...
ECPO denied the request because it is “concerned” that the officer may refuse to testify before the grand jury if his or her name is publicly disclosed. Mr. Rivera’s lawsuit argues that this is not a lawful basis for denying access to the information and videos and that transparency is important when police-involved shootings occur.
In 2017, we won an appeal in the New Jersey Supreme Court on a similar issue in North Jersey Media Group v. Township of Lyndhurst, 229 N.J. 541 (2017). In Lyndhurst, the Supreme Court ruled that the public was entitled to learn the identities of the police ...
Pashman Stein Walder Hayden partner CJ Griffin has published an article in the April 2019 issue of New Jersey Lawyer magazine, titled "The Legal Implications of Governmental Social Media Use." A full copy of the article can be viewed here:
A new bill pending in the Senate, S-2267, directs the State Lottery Commission to amend its regulations so that the identities of lottery winners are not accessible under the Open Public Records Act (OPRA). The bill offers the winners of the lottery lifetime anonymity.
In 2013, former Governor Christie vetoed a similar bill that
would have allowed lottery winners to remain anonymous for one year because he
claimed it “could
undermine the transparency that provides taxpayers confidence in the integrity
of the Lottery and its games.” Similar bills have recently failed in other
This week is Sunshine Week, a week dedicated to promoting openness in government! In honor of Sunshine Week, we're sharing the following resources which will help you shine a light on the government.
OPRA Presentation:
CJ Griffin will give an OPRA training in Nutley (Essex County) on March 12. Come meet CJ and learn about how you can use the Open Public Records Act to hold your government accountable.
New Jersey Resources:
New Jersey Transparency Center/YourMoney.NJ.Gov: This website is operated by the State of New Jersey and provides volume of data about State agencies and ...
Today, The Record published a story about the Borough of Wallington's decision to suspend its Borough Clerk and file tenure charges against him with the state Department of Community Affairs. According to The Record, the Clerk is charged with "serious deficiencies," including failing to comply with OPRA's statutory time frames "43 times in 2018 and 36 times in 2017."
PSWH Partner CJ Griffin is quoted in the article and discusses the potential liability both a public agency and its records custodian (or other employees) could face for violating OPRA.
Most OPRA cases involve an ...
On Tuesday, March 12, 2019 at 7 p.m., PSWH Partner CJ Griffin will celebrate Sunshine Week by giving a free OPRA presentation at the Nutley Public Library. Come learn the nuts and bolts of filing an OPRA request so that you can make sure your town is transparent!
