Plaintiff John Paff filed a lawsuit in the Law Division of the New Jersey Superior Court against the Trenton Board of Education (“Board”) alleging, in part, that the Board violated the Open Public Meetings Act (“OPMA”) and the New Jersey Civil Rights Act (“NJCRA”) because the Board did not reference the payment of a merit bonus to the Superintendent on its agenda for a public meeting. Plaintiff argued that if he prevailed on this issue, he would be entitled to attorney’s fees under OPMA. While the Superior Court found that the Board violated OPMA by failing to provide the public with adequate notice pursuant to N.J.S.A. 10:4-8(d), it denied Plaintiff’s request for attorney’s fees. Plaintiff appealed to the New Jersey Appellate Division.
On November 13, 2020, the Appellate Division in Paff v. Trenton Board of Education confirmed that attorney’s fees are not an available remedy under OPMA or NJCRA. The plain reading of OPMA demonstrates that OPMA provides limited monetary penalties for persons who knowingly violate this law, but it does not provide for attorney’s fees and costs to the prevailing party. Similarly, the NJCRA does not supplement remedies under OPMA. As such, even though Plaintiff was successful in obtaining a ruling that the Board violated OPMA, he was not entitled to attorney’s fees.
Note that OPMA is different than the Open Public Records Act, which does expressly provide for attorney’s fees if a party prevails in Superior Court against a public entity.
