Judge orders Montclair to produce documents in Rao case after legal fight

A state judge has ordered the Township of Montclair to produce a wealth of documents, including records related to allegations that council members misused a government healthcare plan, a tightly vested report that assessed claims of discrimination within Town Hall, and will permit the release of confidential information the municipality has fought to keep out of public court filings.

The order, issued Monday by Superior Court Judge Stephen Petrillo, marks a small victory for Montclair's chief finance officer, Padmaja Rao, whose discrimination case against the Township, and its former manager (Timothy Stafford), had been stymied by the defendant's objections to multiple requests for potential evidence in the would-be trial.

Stefani Schwartz, attorney to the Township in Rao's lawsuit, downplayed the judge's decision in an interview on Tuesday, calling the dispute "par for the course" during pre-trial exchanges of information, known in legal terms as "discovery."

"If this wasn’t the Rao case [people] wouldn’t be interested in this order," she said, although the plaintiff's counsel felt otherwise.

"Anytime you have a court tell [a defendant] to stop hiding information, it’s a win," said Nancy Smith, attorney to Rao. "It means that Montclair has to stop hiding stuff from us and the public."

However, the order issued on Monday has boundaries. While Petrillo insists the Township withdraw all "general objections" − a legal practice used to dismiss any questions and requests relevant to a blanket topic or fact − the defense can still oppose each item individually.

"It's not of great import," Schwartz said, "our specific objections still remain."

But even itemized objections could shed more light on what is being withheld than blanket refusals, according to Smith, who described the ambiguity of general objections: "It's like if you say to me, 'What did you do yesterday?' And I say, 'Well, I can't tell you everything I did yesterday and a lot of what I did is privileged, and lot of what I did has to do with medical care, but what I did is go to the zoo.' You don't know whether I just went to the zoo or did 40 other things that I'm not telling you."

More: Montclair council critic is served subpoena in discrimination case against town

Documents judge ordered released

Nevertheless, residents champing at the bit for clarity on accusations raised in Rao's complaint will likely wait with bated breath for the public release of documents covered by the judge's order.

Among them: files related to Affirmative Action Officer Bruce Morgan's report on discrimination within municipal departments, which critics accuse Mayor Sean Spiller of scuttling in favor of a new probe authored by a third-party firm. Should Morgan not possess any relevant papers, he must sign a certificate stating so and file it with the court. Secondly, Petrillo has compelled the Township to produce diaries, journals, day planners and calendars possessed by 2nd Ward Councilor Robin Schlager.

The latter could provide key evidence of Rao's claim that several council members received state-sponsored healthcare intended for full-time government employees, despite serving what amounts to near-volunteer positions with no set schedule outside of public meetings.

During her deposition in the Rao case, Schlager testified she recorded her time working on council business using calendars, according to Smith. While Schwartz agrees Schlager mentioned keeping calendars, she does not recall the statement having been a reference to the alleged healthcare fraud.

Smith claims the transcript, which cannot yet be released, shows Schlager's comment was in response to a question about her time spent on Township business.

Far more reaching than any document Petrillo explicitly ordered be attached to Rao's case is a paragraph requiring the release of "confidential" records held by the township, unless prohibited by any "law, rule, statute or regulation."

Montclair fought release

Attempts by the Township to keep information out of public court filings date back to last year, when its former defense firm, Riker Danzig, argued attorney-client privilege over multiple records and requested its client be permitted to bar the whistleblowing Rao from performing duties that may grant her access to sensitive information.

“It should make a person shudder when a municipal government has this need for secrecy,” Petrillo stated in June 2023 when he shot down Riker Danzig's requests.

Petrillo will privately review all remaining documents being withheld or redacted by the defense on the basis of privilege.

“A governing body can only waive a privilege, I can’t waive a privilege," said Schwartz, once again dismissing the dispute as common to litigation. "So I included certain documents to be in a privilege log. They’re very challenging," she said of the plaintiff and her attorneys, "so they’ve challenged the privilege log."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Montclair ordered to produce documents in Rao case