On June 11, 2026, the New Jersey Supreme Court issued a decision in Rosetti v. Ramapo-Indian Hills Regional High School Bd. of Educ. (A-72-24) holding that the Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”) requires local school board members to produce email logs of government-related communications from their personal email accounts.
In January 2023, a requestor submitted an OPRA request to a local school board seeking various records, including the email logs of board members’ personal emails used to conduct board business during a specified period. When the board failed to respond to the OPRA request, the requestor filed an action in the Superior Court of New Jersey alleging OPRA violations. The trial court held that the board was not required to produce logs from the board members’ personal email accounts. The Appellate Division disagreed, finding the email logs from the board members’ personal email accounts discussing board business were subject to disclosure under OPRA.
The Supreme Court affirmed the Appellate Division’s decision, holding that the board must produce logs of the government-related emails contained in the personal email accounts of the board members. In reaching its decision, the Supreme Court noted that OPRA’s broad reach includes correspondence on personal devices related to government business. The court also relied on its holding in Paff v. Galloway Township, 229 N.J. 340 (2017), where it held that a log of electronically stored information in government email accounts is a government record.
The Supreme Court agreed with the requestor’s assertion that the board members could create acceptable logs by searching their private email account inbox, trash, sent and other relevant folders for board-related emails to create the requested logs. The court further indicated that there may be other acceptable methods to create logs of government-related emails from individuals’ personal email accounts. The Supreme Court indicated that each board member should submit a certification detailing the search conducted of their personal email accounts to allow a court to accurately assess whether proper searches were conducted by the board members. The decision recognized that the issue could have been avoided altogether if the board members refrained from using their personal email accounts to conduct board business. Accordingly, government agencies should advise their employees, officers, elected officials, and other representatives to refrain from conducting government-related business on their personal email accounts.
