Town sues journalist over OPRA fee
A watchdog post reported Cherry Hill filed legal action concerning OPRA records, with the town seeking roughly $1,000 in costs tied to the request. The short social thread summarized the complaint and the amount referenced by the municipality (x.com).
The Cherry Hill Township Board of Education has sued journalist Ben Shore and his outlet, Shore Investigates, seeking a court order that would block future public-records requests for one year. (newjerseymonitor.com) The case was filed in Camden County Superior Court on February 20, 2026, and names Shore Investigates, Benjamin Shore, and Daniel Shore as defendants. The board’s complaint calls their Open Public Records Act requests “numerous, cumbersome, vexatious and at times invalid.” (newjerseymonitor.com) Ben Shore told NJ Spotlight News that his newsroom filed 14 requests in 13 months to examine the district’s compliance with the records law, contracts, bids, invoices, legal bills, and recordings of board meetings. He said the township government had handled his records requests without the same conflict. (njspotlightnews.org) New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act is the state law that lets residents and journalists ask for government files. The law was overhauled in 2024, and the amended version took effect on September 3, 2024. (nj.gov; njleg.state.nj.us) That 2024 overhaul created a path for public agencies to seek court relief against requesters they say are abusing the system, which is why this Cherry Hill case is being watched beyond one South Jersey district. The New Jersey Society of Professional Journalists said on April 3 that the suit could become a test of how far agencies can go under the revised law. (nj.gov; njspj.org) The board’s complaint also targets a records-request portal Shore created for the school district, saying the site was not affiliated with the district and created confusion about where requests should be filed. Shore told NJ Spotlight News the district could simply deny requests it believed were duplicative. (newjerseymonitor.com; njspotlightnews.org) Press-freedom and transparency advocates have lined up against the suit. The New Jersey Society of Professional Journalists urged the board to withdraw the case, and attorney C.J. Griffin’s firm said it represents Shore in seeking dismissal under the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act, New Jersey’s anti-SLAPP law. (njspj.org; newjerseymonitor.com; pashmanstein.com) The district says the requests disrupted operations; Shore says they were standard accountability reporting about how a public school system spends taxpayer money. The court fight now sits at the intersection of New Jersey’s revised records law and the basic question Shore put to NJ Spotlight News: whether residents can still “see what government’s doing.” (njspotlightnews.org; newjerseymonitor.com)
