By Lev D. Zilbermints
After months of back-and-forth, the lawsuit filed by Charles Kratovil and Prof. Troy Shinbrot against the Rutgers Board of Governors has been dismissed. An appeal is highly likely.
According to court documents, Honorable Alberto Rivas, Judge of the Middlesex County Superior Court heard the case on November 30 via telephone conference. Present were Charles Kratovil and Professor Troy Shinbrot, plaintiffs, and lawyers for Rutgers Board of Governors, defendants.
Court documents show that the lawsuit alleged a violation of the Open Public Meetings Act, N.J.S.A. (New Jersey Statutes Annotated) 10:4 -6 et sequence (Open Public Meetings Act and the New Jersey Constitution, Article I, Sections 6 and 18). The lawsuit also said that the Rutgers University Board of Governors conducted a remote public meeting on June 22, 2021, wherein they violated the OPMA and the rights of Plaintiffs by silencing Mr. Kratovil without just cause during the time that he had been allotted to address the BOG, and by permanently removing Mr. Shinbrot (a non-voting Board member) from the meeting after he questioned the BOG’s President’s decision to rule Mr. Kratovil out of order.
The judge did not rule on whether the Board of Governors violated the Open Public Meetings Act. Rather, the ruling was made on the silencing of Charles Kratovil and Troy Shinbrot. According to Shinbrot, the judge twice said, “Granted, the lack of transparency is a legitimate complaint… comments regarding lack of transparency are valid.”
“Local Talk” previously reported in its July 22, July 29, and November 25 issues about the circumstances surrounding the Kratovil / Shinbrot v. Rutgers University Board of Governors lawsuit. As was previously reported in the November 25 edition, Judge Rivas issued a discovery order demanding more evidence and materials from both sides. The order, issued November 10, required plaintiffs to submit videos of the February and April 2021 meetings. The defendants were required to submit both video and minutes of February 23, April 14 and June 2021 BOG meetings.
The order denying the plaintiffs’ complaint with prejudice was filed December 1, 2021. According to Kratovil, there is a deadline of 45 days to file an appeal from the date of ruling. In this case, the deadline is January 14, 2022.
“Local Talk” will keep its readers updated as to new developments in this case.
