Court Says OPRA Request Is Valid Even If Identifying Data Is Minimal

By Maria Vogel-Short

New Jersey Law Journal
May 12, 2008

An Open Public Records Act request specific enough to identify a dossier must be granted, even if the requester provides only a bare-bones description and some research by the responding agency is required, a Mercer County judge says.

Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg ruled that a request giving only a party's initials — since the name was not known — was limited in scope, sufficiently detailed and not unfairly burdensome.

Feinberg gave the state 10 days to produce the document and awarded counsel fees to the requester, John Paff of the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project.

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