A state appellate panel reversed a trial judge and ruled that the burden of searching for records maintained by others should not be on local authorities—such as police departments—but on the individuals seeking the records.

The case before the Appellate Division involved plaintiffs who sought a number of documents from the Millville Police Department in 2018  through an Open Public Records Act request. The  panel ultimately determined that the documents were maintained not by the police department but by the judiciary.