LIBERTARIANS FOR TRANSPARENT GOVERNMENT, ETC. VS. CUMBERLAND COUNTY, ET AL. (L-0609-18, CUMBERLAND COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (A-1661-18T2)
The court determines a settlement agreement between defendant Cumberland County and a former County employee resolving a preliminary notice of disciplinary action (PNDA) against the employee is not a government record under the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 to -13, but instead is a personnel record exempt from disclosure under section 10 of the statute, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-10. The court rejects the argument of plaintiff Libertarians for Transparent Government that the settlement agreement was properly released in redacted form as not supported by the language of section 10 or the history of excluding personnel and pension records from public access contained in Executive Orders 9 (Hughes), 11 (Byrne) and 21 (McGreevey).
The court reverses the trial court order that released the redacted settlement agreement and remands for the court to consider whether Libertarians is entitled to the agreement, either in whole or in part, under the common law right of access to public records, see Bergen Cty. Improvement Auth. v. N. Jersey Media Grp., Inc., 370 N.J. Super. 504, 520 (App. Div. 2004).
