Monthly Archives: September 2017

OPRA Cases On The Docket Of Supreme Court’s 2017-18 Term

During its 2016-17 term, the Supreme Court issued 5 OPRA opinions, dealing with many different highly important issues. As the Court begins its new term next week, it currently has only two OPRA matters. But these cases involve several major OPRA issues.

Brennan v. Bergen County Prosecutor The Court will consider whether OPRA compels disclosure of the names and addresses of people who successfully bid at an auction of public property. This will be the first time the Court will address the unsettled question of the privacy protection afforded to home addresses.

Paff v. Ocean County Prosecutor This case also involves a critical privacy issue: do people shown in police dash cam videos have privacy rights? In addition, the Court will decide a key law enforcement record issue: does the criminal investigatory record exemption apply to dash cam video, where the video is made pursuant to an order of a local police chief?

These cases have not yet been argued, so it’s not clear when the Court will issue opinions in them.