Requestors who successfully challenge OPRA denials are entitled to attorney fees, and as a result, public bodies often have to pay large fee awards. But public bodies can fight against excessive attorney fee demands made by requestors.

An unpublished Appellate Division opinion, issued today, illustrates one way this can be done. In Stern v. Lakewood Volunteer Fire Company, the court determined that the request had been improperly denied because the fire companies were subject to OPRA. The court also upheld the trial judge’s decision to award $6300 in attorney fees, well below the requestor’s demand for $25,000.

The attorney’s hourly rate of $315 was granted, but the court said that this would be awarded for 20 hours of work, rather than the 50 hours claimed by the requestor. The court based this significant reduction on the fact that the issue in the case, whether OPRA applies to fire companies, was not novel and did not require a lot of research.

Notably, the Appellate Division also took into account the minimal level of finances of the fire companies. It said that in calculating an appropriate fee award, it is relevant to consider that fire companies are not public entities with “almost inexhaustible resources” (quoting the Supreme Court’s opinion on OPRA attorney fee awards, NJDPM v. NJ Dept. of Corrections).