New Jersey township backtracks, drops lawsuit against woman, 82, for filing records requests

A New Jersey municipality that had sued an 82-year-old woman for seeking a “burdensome” number of public records has dropped its lawsuit, after a wave of media attention and backlash.

Irvington Township in 2021 sued Elouise McDaniel for filing numerous requests under the state’s Open Public Records Act.

“They were trying to intimidate Ms. McDaniel,” Amol Sinha, executive director of ACLU New Jersey, told NBC Channel 4 of New York. “The question I have for a city like Irvington that may be using this tactic is — what is it that they are trying to hide?”