This blog has previously discussed an important pending appeal, Paff v. Galloway Tp., which asks whether OPRA requires the custodian to create a new document from information contained in an agency’s database. This problematic issue has recently come up in a trial court case involving records of the Governor’s Office, Lagerkvist v. Office of the Governor.

A different claim in this case, involving the demand for disclosure of travel expenses of the State Police troopers who protect the Governor, has received substantial attention. This aspect of the case has overshadowed the fact that the requestor also seeks disclosure of the Governor’s Office’s “GovNews” database, which would show the recipients of emails from the Governor’s Office containing press releases and other media communications.

The Governor’s Office provided the requestor with a copy of the GovNews email “blast” that was sent on January 26, 2015, but Judge Mary Jacobson ordered that the requestor be given the email addresses of the recipients of this email blast. The judge also ordered disclosure of the entire contact database.

The Attorney General’s Office recently filed a motion asking that Judge Jacobson reconsider her order. Although the motion primarily argues that the contact database is exempt from disclosure,  the brief also states that producing the email addresses specifically related to the January 26 blast would improperly require the creation of a new record, because the email software of the Governor’s Office cannot print those addresses.

In the Paff appeal, the Township argues that OPRA does not require it to create a log from its database of emails, showing the sender, receiver, date, time and subject matter of each email sent by the Township’s police chief during a two-week period. Similarly, in Lagerkvist the argument is that the statute does not require the Governor’s Office to create a log of recipients of the email blast from its email database.

As shown by the Lagerkvist case, as well as the fact that many groups have filed amicus briefs in the Paff appeal (including the N.J. ACLU and the N.J. League of Municipalities), it is critical that the Appellate Division resolve the question of whether OPRA mandates the creation of records from databases.