This request under the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) has been closed, as
per the attached official Closure Receipt. 

Your request for “work locations or anyone infected…for the subject ‘covid
19 or coronana’ from January 1, 2020 through April 16, 2020” constitutes a
request for "information" which is not covered under the requirements of
OPRA (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et. seq.). A request for "information" is not
requesting a record made, maintained or kept on file in the course of
official business. Therefore, this portion of your request is denied and
closed effective today.

Your request for “all emails, memorandum, policies… for the subject ‘covid
19 or coronana’ from January 1, 2020 through April 16, 2020” is overbroad
and improper under OPRA. Government agencies are required to disclose only
identifiable government records that are specifically described in the
request. Gannett N.J. Partners v. Middlesex, 379 N.J. Super. 205, 212
(App. Div. 2005). Neither OPRA nor the common law countenances open-ended
searches of agency files, MAG Entertainment, LLC v. Div. of Alcoholic Bev
Control, 375 N.J. Super. 534, 549 (App. Div. 2005), or permits a blanket
request for every document an agency has on file on a topic, Bent v. Twp.
of Stafford, 381 N.J. Super. 30, 37 (App. Div. 2005). OPRA does not
require that custodians conduct research when responding to OPRA requests.
See Lagerkvist v. Office of Governor of State, 443 N.J. Super. 230, 237
(App. Div. 2015) (citing MAG Entm't, LLC, 375 N.J. Super. at 546-49).  "A
requestor is obliged to identify the documents sought with some
particularity, thus enabling government to maintain transparency while
completing necessary day-to-day functions." Ibid.  "A records request must
be well defined so that the custodian knows precisely what records are
sought. The request should not require the records custodian to undertake
a subjective analysis to understand the nature of the request.  Seeking
particular information from the custodian is permissible; expecting the
custodian to do research is not." Paff v. Galloway Twp., 229 N.J. 340, 355
(2017).

In addition, requests for correspondence must identify the individuals or
accounts to be searched and be confined to a discrete and limited subject
matter. Burke v. Brandes, 429 N.J. Super. 169, 176-78 (App. Div. 2012);
see also Elcavage v. West Milford Twp. (Passaic), GRC Complaint No.
2009-08 (Apr. 8, 2010) (stating that a proper request for email
correspondence must contain "(1) the content and/or subject of the e-mail,
(2) the specific date or range of dates during which the e-mail was
transmitted or the emails were transmitted, and (3) a valid e-mail request
must identify the sender and/or the recipient thereof").

We require information to be more specific in order to identify the
records you are seeking. Therefore, this portion of your request is denied
and closed effective today.

Thank you for the opportunity to be of assistance.

[1]Description: Description:
http://njdotsharepointinsgen.njdot.lan/S...

OPRA Unit

NJDOT Custodian of Records

Office of Inspector General

Phone (609) 963-1950

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