SPECTRASERV, INC. V. MIDDLESEX COUNTY UTILITIES AUTHORITY, ET AL.
A-1080-09T2 11-18-10
County Utilities Authority is not liable to its general contractor for attorney's fees under OPRA where the request for public documents was overbroad, non-specific and encompassed both privileged and confidential (trade secret) materials. Moreover, in light of pending construction litigation between the parties in the Law Division, the government agency's proposed compromise to coordinate the production of non-exempt documents to satisfy both the contractor's OPRA request and its discovery demands in the ongoing lawsuit was a reasonable solution under N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(g), that accommodated the interests of the requestor in securing public information on a timely basis, and the agency is not having its operations substantially disrupted.
