On August 3, 2010, I sent an open letter to Brigantine Mayor Philip J. Guenther and the City Council seeking access to a settlement agreement that a member of the city's police administration reached with the City and an employee who accused him of sexual harassment. My letter is on-line here.
Since the City did not respond to my letter, I filed suit against Brigantine on September 14, 2010. The suit seeks access to the settlement agreement under three legal theories: a) the Open Public records Act (OPRA), b) the common law right of access, and c) the Local Fiscal Affairs Law. I am being represented by Richard Gutman, Esq. of Montclair.
My suit seeks the settlement agreement with the name of the alleged sexual harassment victim redacted from it. I have no interest in knowing or publicizing the name of the alleged victim. I am, however, interested in publicizing the name of the alleged harasser and the terms of the settlement agreement.
Documents from the lawsuit, which is captioned Paff v. City of Brigantine, Docket No. ATL-L-5038-10, are available on-line here.
The matter is scheduled to be heard on November 18, 2010 at 11:30 a.m. by the Hon. Nelson C. Johnson in Atlantic City. Due to a scheduling conflict, however, the matter is almost certainly going to be postponed until December 14, 2010 or December 16, 2010. I will notify readers when a new date and hour is set.