In recent years it has at times felt as though the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) has expanded at a rate rivaling that of the universe. Recent published and unpublished holdings, however, have shown an increasing willingness at the appellate level to contract this expansion. Such decisions have been grounded both in common sense and in a strict reading of the OPRA statute itself.
Since its enactment in 2002 the OPRA statute has remained largely unchanged, while judicial application and analysis has waxed and waned regarding striking the appropriate balance of governmental transparency. Whether this recent apparent contraction of OPRA analysis will prove to be the start of a sea-change or merely a blip on the timeline will likely be determined by the Supreme Court of New Jersey and whether our justices will reverse or affirm pending cases such as Paff v. Galloway Township, 444 N.J. Super. 495 (App. Div. 2016), cert. grant., (pending) 227 N.J. 24 (2016), and North Jersey Media Group v. Township of Lyndhurst, 441 N.J. Super. 70 (2015), cert. grant., (pending) 223 N.J. 553 (2017)
