Dear North Bergen Township,

Please accept this electronic request for public records made under OPRA and the common law right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form or use a particular software platform to submit my request per NJSA 47:1A-5(f), which states that an email from a requestor including all of the information required on the adopted form shall suffice in place of a completed form as a valid government record request.

Records requested:

Re: Dual OPRA and Common-Law Request - Communications Between Municipal Attorney Thomas R. Kobin and Kirstin Bohn, Esq., Concerning the Jorge Raposo Notice of Tort Claim

Dear Ms. Barillas:

Please treat this submission as a request for identifiable existing government records under both the New Jersey Open Public Records Act ("OPRA"), N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq., and, independently, the common-law right of access to public records. The common-law request is asserted as an independent basis for access and is not waived if the Township contends that one or more records are excluded or exempt under OPRA. See N.J.S.A. 47:1A-8; Loigman v. Kimmelman, 102 N.J. 98 (1986).

INDEPENDENT COMMON-LAW REQUEST AND PUBLIC INTEREST

Requester's interest: The requester seeks to evaluate the Township's administration of its statutory public-records duties, the consistency and good faith of its access decisions, the supervision and use of publicly funded municipal counsel, and whether Township decision-makers followed or disregarded the determination of the attorney assigned to review or oversee OPRA matters.

The requester understands and has reason to believe that Ms. Bohn functioned as the Township's OPRA subject-matter specialist and approved or authorized release of Mr. Raposo's tort claim or claim notice, but that the claim was not released notwithstanding that determination. The records are sought to establish what occurred, who made the final access decision, whether the Township's response was consistent with the advice or approval it obtained, and whether the Township complied with OPRA and the common-law right of access. These statements identify the requester's interest and the purpose of the request; they are not presented as adjudicated findings.

Public interest: The public has a substantial interest in transparent and consistent administration of OPRA, in accountability for municipal decisions affecting access to public records, in the proper use of taxpayer-funded counsel, and in determining whether a municipality declined to implement its own designated OPRA counsel's access determination. The request is narrowly limited to one claim, one access dispute, two identified attorneys, and a defined time period. It does not seek unrelated legal strategy. Any legitimate confidentiality or privacy interest can be protected through targeted redaction rather than blanket withholding.

Under the common-law balancing test, the requester's legally recognized interest and the public interest in disclosure outweigh the Township's confidentiality interest as to nonprivileged records and segregable factual, administrative, implementation, and final-action material. See Loigman, 102 N.J. at 104-05, 112-13. Please conduct the common-law analysis independently of the OPRA analysis and on a record-by-record basis.

RECORDS REQUESTED

Participants/accounts to be searched: Thomas R. Kobin, in his official capacity as Municipal Attorney, Township Attorney, Corporation Counsel, or counsel to the Township of North Bergen; and Kirstin Bohn, Esq., of Chasan Lamparello Mallon & Cappuzzo, P.C., in her role advising or overseeing the Township concerning OPRA and common-law records requests.
Please produce one electronic copy of each unique existing record sent, received, exchanged, or maintained between those participants, including:

1. Email messages, including the visible sender, recipient(s), date, time, and subject fields, together with all attachments and any embedded, quoted, replied-to, or forwarded portions of the message chain;

2. SMS/MMS text messages, iMessages, Microsoft Teams messages, and messages sent through WhatsApp, Signal, Slack, or any other messaging or collaboration platform used for Township business;

3. Letters, memoranda, written instructions, written notes or summaries of telephone calls or meetings, calendar invitations, meeting notes, draft communications actually transmitted between the participants, and final communications; and

4. Any communication maintained by the Township, its officials, or its agents that forwards, quotes, reproduces, or memorializes a communication between Mr. Kobin and Ms. Bohn concerning the subject matter defined below.
Specific subject matter: The requested records are limited to communications concerning one or more of the following:

• The Notice of Tort Claim, tort claim, or claim notice filed by or on behalf of Jorge Raposo on or about March 24, 2026 and forward, including any version of that claim;
• Any OPRA request or common-law request seeking a copy of Mr. Raposo's claim or related claim notice;
• Why the claim release was withheld by Kobin and Board of Commissioners when Bohn, the subject matter expert authorized its release;
• Ms. Bohn's review, analysis, approval, authorization, recommendation, instruction, or conclusion concerning release of the claim or claim notice;
• Mr. Kobin's, the Township Clerk's, the records custodian's, the Board of Commissioners', or any Commissioner's response to, acceptance of, rejection of, or implementation of Ms. Bohn's approval, recommendation, instruction, or conclusion; or
• The drafting, review, approval, issuance, revision, or withdrawal of any response, denial, extension notice, redaction, or production concerning the request for Mr. Raposo's claim.

Express exclusion: This request does not seek communications solely concerning defense strategy, liability, damages, insurance coverage, settlement, or litigation strategy in the underlying tort matter, unless the same communication also addresses public access, disclosure, redaction, withholding, delay, or denial under OPRA or the common law.

SEARCH LOCATIONS AND CONSTRUCTION OF REQUEST

1. Please search Township-issued accounts and systems, records maintained by outside counsel for the Township in the course of Township business to the extent held or controlled by the Township, and any personal or non-Township account or device used to conduct official Township business. This request is limited to government-related records and does not seek private communications unrelated to Township business.

2. The term "between" includes communications in which one participant is the sender and the other is a direct recipient, copied recipient, or blind-copied recipient, as well as responsive forwarded or quoted versions maintained by the Township.

3. Suggested search terms include "Jorge Raposo," "Raposo," "tort claim," "notice of claim," "notice of tort claim," "OPRA," "common law," "release," "disclose," "withhold," and "deny." These terms are offered to facilitate the search and do not narrow otherwise responsive records located through the identified participants, subject matter, and time period.

4. This request seeks existing records only. It does not ask the Township to answer interrogatories, perform legal research, analyze the contents of records, or create a new substantive record. The request identifies specific participants, a specific subject matter, and a confined time period.

OPRA: SEGREGABILITY AND RECORD-BY-RECORD REVIEW

OPRA expressly protects records within the attorney-client privilege and excludes qualifying advisory, consultative, or deliberative material. This request does not assert that a valid privilege is automatically eliminated merely because the subject is important. It does request a record-by-record review and disclosure of all nonexempt records and all reasonably segregable portions of partially exempt records. See N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1 and 47:1A-5(g).

Please do not withhold a record solely because an attorney appears in the communication. To the extent they are not privileged or otherwise exempt, factual, administrative, transmittal, scheduling, implementation, final-action, and other nonlegal portions should be disclosed. If only a portion is exempt, please redact only that portion and produce the balance.

IF ANY RECORD IS WITHHELD OR REDACTED

For every record withheld in whole or in part, please provide a written, record-specific explanation sufficient to permit review of the determination. To the extent not itself exempt, please identify:

• the date of the record and the type of record;
• the author or sender and recipient(s);
• a nonprivileged description of the subject matter;
• whether the record is withheld in full or produced with redactions;
• the precise statutory exemption, privilege, court rule, order, or other legal authority relied upon; and
• a concise explanation of why the asserted basis applies and why additional portions cannot be segregated and released.

A document-by-document index or privilege/redaction log may be used. A categorical statement that all communications involving counsel are privileged or deliberative will not address the requested segregability and common-law review. If the Township relies on a court order or a pending discovery request, please identify the proceeding and the specific order or discovery request relied upon, subject to any lawful redaction.

PRODUCTION FORMAT, FEES, TIMING, AND PRESERVATION

1. Please provide the records electronically through email. Searchable PDF is preferred for emails, messages, and correspondence; attachments that cannot reasonably be rendered should be provided in their existing electronic format.

2. One copy of each unique responsive record is sufficient. Exact duplicate copies need not be produced.

3. Do not incur fees or special service charges exceeding $0.00 without first providing a written estimate and obtaining the requester's written approval.

4. Please respond within the time required by N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(i). Any extension notice should state the specific reason for the extension and a definite anticipated production date.

5. If the Township believes the request would substantially disrupt agency operations, please notify the requester promptly and attempt to reach a reasonable accommodation before denying access, as required by N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(g) and causing litigation through the Government Records Council on appeal.

6. Please preserve potentially responsive records while this request and any administrative or judicial review remain pending, including responsive records in active accounts, archived folders, and reasonably accessible deleted-item folders.

My preferred delivery method for response(s) to this request is by E-mail as attachments. Please confirm you have received this request. If you are not the custodian of records, please forward my request to that person and provide their email address to me for future reference.

Yours faithfully,

Alicia Raposo