Clerk's office must follow OPRA law on copy fees. Dugan v Camden County Clerk's Office et al ___ NJ Super. ___

Clerk's office must follow OPRA law on copy fees. Dugan v Camden County Clerk's Office et al ___ NJ Super. ___ (App. Div., A-3567-03T3 decided March 22, 2005).

The amounts county clerks may charge for use by the public of self-service copiers to copy documents recorded in their offices and available for self-inspection by the public are governed by the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 to -13. The clerks may not invoke N.J.S.A. 22A:2-29, a comprehensive fee schedule for filing and recording documents in their offices, to justify higher fees. That statue contains entries for "Comparing and making copies, per sheet ... $2.00" and "Copies of all papers, typing and comparing of photostat, per page ... $2.00." We held that self-service copies are not encompassed in those entries, which require the performance of a service by the clerk. Therefore, because there is no other "fee prescribed by law or regulation," N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5b, the OPRA fee provisions apply. [Note- there is an unrelated pending class action suit against municipalities and prosecutors that charge discovery fees in municipal court cases greater than the copy fees permitted by OPRA]