Township Council Meeting — Agenda

MRS L 000300-20 05/22/2020 Pg 11 of 16 Trans ID: LCV2020932426 their denial on January 23, 2020, they would comply with her request, and because the Town produced the requested BWC footage a day after they were notified that a Verified Complaint had already been filed, and three minutes after they were served with the papers, the Court must conclude that [the] . Smith, 422 N.J. Super. at 394. The Verified Complaint can be considered the catalyst for compelling Defendants to produce the BWC footage. Accordingly, as the Verified Complaint was compliance with OPRA, Plaintiff is the prevailing party and entitled See N.J.S.A. 47:1A-6. e. s Motion for Reasonable Counsel Fees and Costs s counsel seeks to recover $8,200.00 in legal fees from Defendants, billed at the rate of $500.00 per hour over the course of 16.4 hours. Griffin Cert. ¶ further claims that there are $515.90 in litigation costs, which include filing fees for the initial Complaint, Order to Show Cause, and fee applications, as well as process server and UPS charges for delivering courtesy copies to the Court. Id. ¶ a total award in the amount of $8,715.90. Id. ¶ 37. Regarding the first factor of RPC 1.5(a), pertaining to the skills required and type, novelty and difficulty of the legal questions involved, the instant action involves an OPRA claim. The Court has already found that Plaintiff was the prevailing party in this matter, and therefore is in connection with legal services rendered. N.J.S.A. 47:1A-6. The Court also finds that instant lawsuit has a causal nexus with her receipt of the requested body camera footage. See Mason, 196 N.J. at 76. Plaintiff received the requested BWC footage on February 7, 2020, after Defendants had previously denied her request for footage, and after Plaintiff had filed her Verified Complaint and 11 Pa052