As discussed here, the Gilleran Supreme Court case is extremely important, because it involves the Court’s first review of OPRA’s security exemptions. And the case also gives the Court the opportunity to decide another significant OPRA issue–the meaning of the statutory provision allowing a custodian to deny a request that would “substantially disrupt agency operations.” N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5g.

Although some court opinions have mentioned this provision, no opinion has definitively interpreted it. In my experience, determining whether a particular request is substantially disruptive is one of the most difficult issues facing public bodies. In the absence of standards set forth in the statute or by a court, agencies struggle to decide whether they are legally obligated to devote an extensive amount of time and resources to answer a request.

The request at issue in Gilleran is  a clear example of a substantially disruptive request. The Appellate Division declined to resolve the case on this basis, but it acknowledged that Gilleran’s request, for 14 hours of video footage, was “unreasonably burdensome,” “virtually impossible to accomplish without devoting the time and services of multiple employees,” and not within OPRA’s contemplation. It would appear that Gilleran’s request is precisely the kind of request that the statute’s substantial disruption language is directed at.

Presumably, the Supreme Court, in reviewing a case presenting such an invalid request, will not ignore the necessity of addressing the substantial disruption issue. The validity of an OPRA request must always be resolved at the outset; OPRA does not require custodians to attempt to answer requests that are “unreasonably burdensome” (in the words of the Appellate Division here) or otherwise invalid.

In this case, the Supreme Court needs to decide at the outset whether Gilleran’s request, and similar requests for surveillance camera recordings, are invalid under OPRA’s substantial disruption provision. Such a decision will provide crucial guidance to agencies that goes far beyond the issue of access to surveillance footage–agencies are often confronted with many different types of massive OPRA requests that may substantially disrupt operations.