OPRA - police officer-involved lawsuits 2012-2019
Dear Mountainside Borough,
This is a request for public records made under OPRA and the common law right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form. Please acknowledge receipt of this message.
Records requested:
1. A list of all lawsuits and cases in which any officer of the police department was involved between 2012 and 2019. For each lawsuit/case, please provide the date (month and year) of the alleged incident at issue, whether the alleged incident was excessive force, settlement amount (if any), and final compensation amount ruled (if any).
2. Please provide copies of the complaint in any lawsuits and cases described in above.
Yours faithfully,
UC Research
Hello, Mr. Kim,
Below is the response to your above OPRA request.
This request seeks that the custodian conduct research and generate documents, and does not identify specific government records. As such, your request is an invalid OPRA request and is denied. When a request is “complex” because it fails to specifically identify the documents sought, then that request is not “encompassed” by OPRA. See New Jersey Builders Association v. New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing, 390 N.J. Super. 166, 180 (App. Div. 2007). Custodians are not required to conduct research in response to an OPRA request. OPRA “is not intended as a research tool litigants may use to force government officials to identify and siphon useful information. Rather, OPRA simply operates to make identifiable government records readily accessible for inspection, copying, or examination” N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1." MAG Entertainment, LLC v. Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, 375 N.J.Super. 534, 546 (App. Div. 2005). "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 Tp., 229 N.J. 340, 355 (2017)
If your request for access to a government record has been denied or unfilled within the seven (7) business days required by law, you have a right to challenge the decision by the Borough of Mountainside to deny access. At your option, you may either institute a proceeding in the Superior Court of New Jersey or file a complaint with the Government Records Council (GRC) by completing the Denial of Access Complaint Form. You may contact the GRC by toll-free telephone at 866-850-0511, by mail at P.O. Box 819, Trenton, NJ, 08625, by e-mail at [email address], or at their web site at https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=ht... The GRC can also answer other questions about the law. All questions regarding complaints filed in Superior Court should be directed to the Court Clerk in your County.
Should you have any questions or concerns regarding any of the redactions, please contact the Borough Attorney, John N. Post, Esq., who will address and attempt to resolve any questions or concerns.
-----Original Message-----
From: Taeho Kim <[OPRA #12827 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2020 8:45 PM
To: Martha Lopez <[Mountainside Borough request email]>
Subject: OPRA request - OPRA - police officer-involved lawsuits 2012-2019
[EXTERNAL EMAIL] DO NOT CLICK links or attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Dear Mountainside Borough,
This is a request for public records made under OPRA and the common law right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form. Please acknowledge receipt of this message.
Records requested:
1. A list of all lawsuits and cases in which any officer of the police department was involved between 2012 and 2019. For each lawsuit/case, please provide the date (month and year) of the alleged incident at issue, whether the alleged incident was excessive force, settlement amount (if any), and final compensation amount ruled (if any).
2. Please provide copies of the complaint in any lawsuits and cases described in above.
Yours faithfully,
UC Research
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This e-mail contains information from the law office of Post Polak, P. A.
The information contained in this e-mail communication is intended only for the personal and confidential use of the designated recipient(s) named above and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.
If you communicate with us by e-mail and you are not a present client, your correspondence will not be considered privileged or confidential. E-mail communication may not be secure and should not be used to communicate confidential or sensitive information.
Unless you are a client we will not provide legal advice by e-mail. Sending us e-mail does not create an attorney client relationship with us.
----------
U.S. Treasury Circular 230 Notice
U.S. Treasury Regulations require us to inform you that any U.S.
tax advice in this communication cannot be used by you (i) to avoid tax penalties or (ii) to promote, market or recommend to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.