05/13/14 AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF NEW JERSEY VS.
NEW JERSEY DIVISION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BRUCE
SOLOMON
A-3381-12T1
In response to a request for government records under the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 to 47:1A-13, a government agency does not have the authority to redact an admittedly responsive document to withhold information the agency deems to be outside the scope of the request. Absent a legally recognized exception to disclosure, a citizen's right of access to public information is unfettered.
We also reverse the trial court's decision to place the "onus" on the requestor to clarify or engage in negotiations with the custodian as a jurisdictional prerequisite to instituting legal action to enforce his or her rights to access public information. This extra bureaucratic hurdle the requestor must clear before getting to the courthouse doors is untethered to any provision in OPRA and contravenes our State's strong public policy favoring "the prompt disclosure of government records." Mason v. City of Hoboken, 196 N.J. 51, 65 (2008); N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.
