On September 16, 2009, Alexander Casey, who receives mail at a post office box in New Vernon, New Jersey, accepted $225,000 as full settlement of his excessive force claim against the Borough of Seaside Park (Ocean County) and several members of its police department. Casey’s civil lawsuit, filed in June 2007, arose out his encounter […]
Court finds that home and e-mail addresses are public records under OPRA
In an October 27, 2009, 9-page written opinion, Ocean County Superior Court Assignment Judge Vincent J. Grasso ruled that the Township of Plumsted must provide an OPRA requestor with: a) a list of the e-mails of those who signed up to receive the Township’s “Plumsted Township Alerts,” and b) copies of Tort Claim Notices filed […]
Village threatened with lawsuit over slow release of minutes
I have threatened to sue the Ridgewood Village Council (Bergen) unless it speeds up its release of both executive and public meeting minutes. As of now, the Village is improperly suppressing minutes from public meetings held as early as March 2009 and executive meetings held as early as November 2008. My letter to the Mayor […]
The Custodian needs legal advice, but how long am I supposed to wait?
Sometimes I get questions that I think might be of general interest. Here’s one such question and my answer to it. QUESTION: On September 30, 2009, I made an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request for closed session minutes. The borough clerk responded same day and informed me that my request was forwarded to the […]
GRC: Confidentiality clause is not an OPRA exception
The following article in Wednesday’s Daily Record concerns the Government Records Council’s September 30, 2009 decision in Joe Ungaro v. Town of Dover (Morris), GRC Complaint No. 2008-115. In that decision, the GRC ruled that a confidentiality clause in an administrator’s severance agreement does not constitute a legal basis for denying public access to the […]