Agencies often find it difficult to respond to a request within OPRA’s tight 7-business-day time frame. Fortunately, the courts have upheld the validity of responses issued after the deadline, as long as the agency can show that it did not unreasonably delay in responding.

A recent trial court opinion, by Judge Grasso in Ocean County, while not precedential, does show how a judge may evaluate the timeliness issue. The OPRA aspect of this case involved requests to the Kean University Board of Trustees for Board meeting executive session minutes. The requestor complained that the Kean Board answered one request approximately 6 weeks after it was made. The request was submitted on December 18, 2014, but the Board explained that the University was closed in late December, and the Board’s executive director did not learn of the request until she returned from vacation in mid-January 2015. The redacted minutes were provided on February 2, 2015.

The judge determined that the University had complied with the statute in this situation, in view of the holiday season and the time necessary for redaction of the records. The opinion does not explain why additional time was needed for the redactions to be made. It appears that the judge essentially concluded that Kean had acted reasonably in fulfilling the request approximately two weeks after the Board’s executive director learned of it.