Reach of OPRA Now Extends to Personal Emails
Jul 1, 2026 | Written by: | Share
On June 11, 2026, the New Jersey Supreme Court affirmed that, under the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), government-related emails from personal email accounts may also be obtained by New Jersey residents.
This decision follows an OPRA request to the Ramapo-Indian Hills Regional High School Board of Education for email logs of all past and current Board members, including those from personal email accounts in which official business had been discussed. In January 2023, Alex Rosetti had made this request to the Board but was not provided with logs from members’ personal email accounts. The trial court later denied Rosetti’s request for these records. The Appellate Division reversed this, asserting that records created by government officials remain government records, despite their held location.
The NJ Supreme Court has warned government agencies to seriously advise their elected officials, employees, and others involved in government-related matters to cease use of their personal email accounts when conducting such business. Emails related to government business, on either government or private servers, are within the reach of OPRA and may be subject to production. Emails obtained from private servers may include personal metadata.
To avoid the sharing of personal metadata, it is imperative that government officials, employees and others discussing or conducting government-related business refrain from using personal emails to do so. Municipalities should provide government email accounts for each member of the governing body and the land use boards, at a minimum. All government business conducted by these individuals should be done using the government-provided account.
Matthew P. Lyons, Esq. is a partner with Gebhardt & Kiefer, PC. He concentrates his practice on civil litigation, primarily in the areas of insurance defense, civil rights, and representation of municipal government and other public entities. Contact Mr. Lyons at 908-735-5161 or via email.
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Any statements made herein are solely for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon or construed as legal advice.