Public Access & Right to Know

Right to Know Law, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1, et seq.

Judicial records are not within the scope of the Right to Know Law. The Judiciary is bound by Court Rule 1:38.

Court Rule 1:38 reads in part

"All records which are required to be made, maintained or kept on file by any Court, office, or official within the judicial branch of government shall be deemed a public record and shall be available for public inspection and copying, as provided by law, except..

• Personnel and pensions records
• Records required by statute or rule to be kept confidential or withheld from indiscriminate public inspection.
• Records ordered by a Court to be impounded or kept confidential.
• Records of Pre Trail Intervention Programs
• Records of programs approved for operation under Rule 7:8-1 (mediation of minor disputes)
• Administrative reports required to be prepared by the Municipal Court Judges under Rule 1:32

Access to records involving Domestic Violence can be determined only by the Judge.

Access to Court Records

Reasonable Access to Court Records is determined by the Court using the following factors:

• Court size
• Volume of cases
• Staff
• Available resources
• Budget
• Existence of records.

Access to records is available on Tuesday and Wednesday because of the operations of this Court. When the Court staff is reduced to one person as a result of to vacation, illness or days off, Court records will not be available.

If Court staff determines a record is not available for public access, an appeal may be made in writing to Judge Frank P. Leanza, JMC, at the Washington Township Municipal Court, 43 Schooley's Mountain Road, Long Valley, NJ 07853.

Docket Books

Due to the possibility of Expunged records being readable, the Court reserves the right to make some pages of the Docket Book "sealed" unless the record can be completely eradicated. Docket Books may be read, but we have no method of making copies of these pages, you must hand copy the information.

Computer Based Records

Computer based records are available only in formats presently available from the ATS/ACS system. The Administrative Office of the Courts will NOT design programs or reports for specific requested information.

Example: Search of all red cars with New Jersey registrations or all vehicles parked on Main Street from May 1 to present).

Retention Periods

Some records may not be available because they are beyond the retention period allowed by the Administrative Office of the Courts. The retention period is from the date of final action on the case. Some retention periods are: