A judge in Atlantic County has just held that public agencies cannot sue records requestors for declarations that the records sought are not subject to the Open Public Records Act (OPRA). The court affirmed that only the requestor can sue under OPRA and awarded attorney’s fees to the defendant-requestor!
The action arose following an OPRA request for surveillance video footage from the Township of Hamilton. Instead of granting or denying the request, the Township filed a lawsuit seeking relief from its obligation to respond.
