SYLLABUS

(This syllabus is not part of the opinion of the Court. It has been prepared by the Office of the Clerk for the convenience of the reader. It has been neither reviewed nor approved by the Supreme Court. Please note that, in the interests of brevity, portions of any opinion may not have been summarized).

Fred Burnett v. County of Bergen, et al. (A-43-08)

Argued November 17, 2008 -- Decided April 27, 2009

RABNER, C.J., writing for a majority of the Court.

The Court considers under the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 to -13, a request by a commercial entity for the bulk release of eight million pages of land title records, extending over a period of twenty-two years, which the entity intends to include in a searchable database. Because the requested records contain citizens’ social security numbers (SSNs), along with other personal identifiers, the Court determines whether the SSNs must be redacted before the records are released and, if so, whether the requestor or the custodian of the records must pay the cost of redaction.