Pennington, NJ – In the last update we noted that Judge Lougy indicated that he would rule on the Austin OPRA case during the week of June 3rd. As of the date of this article, no decision has yet been rendered. It seems that OPRA bill that Governor Murphy signed into law during that same week which a) severely curtailed the publics ability to obtain records from their state government agencies and b) also eliminated the compensation structure that had counties reimburse plaintiff attorneys if they won their case may be one reason for the delay in judgement.
Mr. Austin had withdrawn his School Board election challenge but continued on with a separate Open Public Records Act (OPRA) lawsuit to obtain the November 2023 election records for all of Mercer County. A hearing on the OPRA lawsuit took place on Friday, May 31st before Judge Robert Loughy. In the hearing, the County argued that they had fulfilled their commitment to provide information to Mr. Austin within the Election Challenge lawsuit and that rather than negotiate with the County on his separate OPRA requests in good faith, Mr. Austin jumped back and forth between the OPRA process, his Election Challenge and then the separate OPRA lawsuit in order to get what he wanted.
Mr. Austin, represented by Matt Moench of King, Moench and Collins LLP, has argued that his actions were because of the County's obfuscation and Mr. Austin has provided documentation in support of his actions.
Further updates will be provided as new information becomes available.
