Scarinci Hollenbeck's Media Law Group, representing the New Jersey Press Association (NJPA), won a significant victory in the Appellate Division on May 21st in the case of Renna v. County of Union.

The case addressed the issue of whether the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) requires that a request for government records be submitted on an agency's official form. NJPA intervened as amicus urging that OPRA does not require the use of an agency form as (1) the language in the statute, which requires the clerk to provide a form, is in a different section than the provision requiring that requests be in writing; and (2) had the Legislature intended that OPRA require a form, the Legislature would have provided expressly that the request shall be in writing and submitted on the form adopted by the government agency.

The County argued that the statute requires that the custodian provide a basis for non-compliance on "the request form" and that the custodian sign and date "the form," and that the Legislature's use of the word "the" suggests that the request form being referenced is that the request must be "in writing," not a blank request form.

The Court specifically adopted the statutory interpretation urged by NJPA and concluded that the legislative mandate for a form was one of accommodation rather than restriction. The Court held that a custodian cannot withhold records if the written request for such records, not presented on the official form, contains the requisite information prescribed in N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(f).

 

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Thomas J. Cafferty, Chair of the Media Law Group Nomi I. Lowy Lauren E. James Media Law Group

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