Today’s Sunshine Week profile focuses on Pat Gilleran, a client for whom Pashman Stein has litigated many OPRA matters. Pat is an open government and animal rights activist. Pat’s litigation has been instrumental in forcing non-profit business improvement districts to comply with OPRA’s provisions. Presently, Pashman Stein is defending an appeal on Pat’s behalf relating to video footage from a surveillance camera outside the Bloomfield Municipal Building. While the trial court ruled in Pat’s favor and held that the footage was subject to OPRA, Bloomfield has refused ...
It is common that a requestor will seek a record that is required by law to be made. Thinking that she is being helpful to the Records Custodian and making her request clearer, the requestor will often cite the particular law when making her request. Requestors who do this should be careful, as Records Custodians will often deny the request on the basis that it requires them to perform "research."
A good example of this issue occurred in the case Bart v. Passaic County Public Housing Agency, 406 N.J. Super. 445 (App. Div. 2009). There, the requestor (Bart) sought "signs currently posted in ...
