The many landmark cases issued in 2017 made that year the most important year in OPRA’s history. Although 2018 did not match that standard, it nevertheless saw many major court rulings on crucial OPRA issues.

The Supreme Court issued two OPRA opinions. Brennan v. Bergen Prosecutor said that bidders at public auctions lack a reasonable expectation of privacy in their names and addresses. Paff v. Ocean Prosecutor also dealt with OPRA’s privacy exemption, with regard to police dashcam videos, and in addition held that these videos are exempt criminal investigatory records.

The Appellate Division issued several important published opinions on a variety of OPRA topics, including the right of nonresidents of New Jersey to make OPRA requests; the confidentiality of student records; the confidentiality of draft meeting minutes; and attorney fees.

And as in previous years, OPRA litigation resulted in a large number of non-precedential decisions that people who deal with OPRA need to know about. In 2018, the Appellate Division ruled on a number of meaningful OPRA matters in unpublished opinions.