Lagerkvist v. New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

The plaintiff, operator of a news-gathering organization, sued the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for their alleged failure to respond to proper requests for documents under the Open Public Records Act (OPRA). The plaintiff sought records pertaining to the results of RGGI auctions for carbon credits. The Mercer County Superior Court first established that “the balance of interests weigh[ed] in favor of defendants” when considering whether documents listed in their privilege log should be released, in part because “the bidders relied on representations that individual bidding information would remain confidential.” The court subsequently reviewed each of the documents that the defendant listed in their privilege log, and determined on a document-by-document basis whether they should be released. Balancing the plaintiff’s interest in disclosure with the defendant’s interest in privacy, the court ordered the release of some, but not all, of the documents listed in the privilege log. The court found that two documents related to the offset program were exempt from disclosure under the deliberative process privilege. The court then granted the defendant’s motion for summary judgment, finding that the plaintiff’s request for discovery was unnecessary on the grounds that there were no “material issues of fact in dispute as to whether the requested records are 'government records' as defined by OPRA.”