{"id":3666,"date":"2026-08-05T21:15:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T21:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=3666"},"modified":"2026-08-05T21:15:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T21:15:10","slug":"a-judge-has-tossed-cherry-hill-schools-lawsuit-against-a-journalist-for-filing-too-many-public-records-requests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=3666","title":{"rendered":"A judge has tossed Cherry Hill schools\u2019 lawsuit against a journalist for filing too many public records requests"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div><audio><\/audio><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Freelance journalist Benjamin Shore won\u2019t have to stop filing public records requests in South Jersey after a judge dismissed Cherry Hill schools\u2019 lawsuit alleging that his requests amounted to harassment.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=3664\">Albert Gury, popular painter and award-winning professor of art education, has died at 74<\/a><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The Cherry Hill Board of Education filed a 128-page lawsuit in Superior Court in February claiming that the \u201cnumerous, repeated and vexatious\u201d requests that Shore filed under New Jersey\u2019s Open Public Records Act qualified as harassment and \u201csubstantially interrupted\u201d school operations. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Shore operates the online outlet Shore Investigates, a news site focused on Cherry Hill. His brother Daniel was also named in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The suit sought to bar Shore and his outlet from submitting requests for public documents for one year. It also sought to shut down an online portal that Shore created where the public can file requests instead of using the district\u2019s website.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe Board tried to stop us from requesting records,\u201d Benjamin Shore said in an email following the dismissal. \u201cInstead, the case ended with its complaint dismissed with prejudice and its unsupported allegations rejected. Shore Investigates will continue following the records, asking difficult questions, and keeping the public informed.\u201d<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Cherry Hill Public Schools did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The school board\u2019s lawsuit specifically referenced 18 OPRA requests that Shore had filed over the course of a year and a half, averaging out to roughly one request per month.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The board claimed that as a result, district personnel, including the custodian of records, spent more than 100 hours reviewing and redacting documents and responding to Shore\u2019s requests. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Shore argued that the amount and frequency of his requests is in line with standard journalistic practice. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Superior Court Judge Michael Mikulski agreed, dismissing the suit on July 31 stating that the district failed to provide evidence of Shore\u2019s ill-intent.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Instead, the judge found that Shore actually displayed a \u201cwillingness to cooperate with the Board in making the requests less intrusive,\u201d he wrote in the seven-page ruling. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe Court finds the Board has failed to establish by clear and convincing evidence that Defendants filed their requests with the intent to disrupt agency operations,\u201d the ruling concluded. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=3662\">Funding was cut to life-saving medical research programs in Philly. Rep. Brendan Boyle demands to know why.<\/a><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Mikulski determined that the suit met the requirements to be dismissed under New Jersey\u2019s Uniform Public Expression Protection Act, which is meant to shield people from baseless lawsuits meant to silence political speech or engagement. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The law allows defendants to request an early, expedited dismissal of a lawsuit and to recover legal fees if the suit is ultimately tossed. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>While Shore succeeded in getting the case thrown out, he said it still had its intended effect.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe lawsuit nevertheless accomplished something before it was dismissed: it chilled our reporting. We paused records requests and held back stories because every new inquiry appeared to carry the threat of further litigation,\u201d Shore said. \u201cThat is what it means to report with a target on your back.\u201d<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<h3>New Jersey\u2019s new open records laws <\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The district\u2019s lawsuit was possible thanks to a controversial June 2024 bill signed by then-Gov. Phil Murphy that overhauled the state\u2019s existing public records laws.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The new law enables governmental entities like Cherry Hill\u2019s Board of Education to sue someone seeking public information if they can prove the request amounts to harassment or substantially prevents them from doing their jobs. <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The new law also no longer guarantees that people who successfully overturn record request denials in court can recoup their legal fees.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>\u201cWe knew when they amended OPRA in 2024 to include this provision that it would sadly be weaponized to retaliate against people who seek public records,\u201d Shore\u2019s attorney, CJ Griffin, said in a statement. \u201cBut thankfully the trial court agreed this suit had no merit and that my clients were nothing but polite and had no intention of disrupting agency operations \u2014 they simply wanted government records to report on matters of public concern.\u201d<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>\u201cNo one should be hauled into court for filing public records requests, especially not reporters who keep us informed about the public business,\u201d Griffin said.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/corporate-movers-usa.com\/?p=3660\">The rules for Philly\u2019s school selection process are changing again \u2013 here\u2019s how<\/a><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Cherry Hill Board of Education failed to prove that freelance journalist Benjamin Shore&#8217;s public records requests qualified as harassment, a Superior Court judge has ruled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3665,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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