The Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court has handed down a ruling preventing the disclosure of private equity limited partnership agreements (LP agreements) to union representatives who sought copies of those agreements.  Plaintiffs are two state employee unions whose pension funds were partly invested in private equity funds by New Jersey’s pension manager.  The plaintiffs sought disclosure of the LP agreements both under New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act (OPRA) and under common law principles of public access to government documents.  OPRA grants broad public access to “government records” but enumerates several exemptions from disclosure.  Cf. “Repeal of Dodd-Frank Confidentiality Protection for SEC: What Investment Advisers Lost and What Remains,” Hedge Fund Law Report, Vol. 3, No. 47 (Dec. 3, 2010).  The New Jersey Treasurer argued that the LP agreements were exempt as both proprietary commercial/financial information and as trade secrets.  The Treasurer also argued that the common law right to disclosure of the documents was outweighed by the State’s interest in preserving the confidentiality of the LP agreements.  The Court agreed with the State and prevented disclosure.  We summarize the Court’s reasoning.  For a discussion of a North Carolina case in which a nonprofit corporation was permitted to pursue its claim for records pertaining to state hedge fund investments in the context of a “pay to play” investigation, see “North Carolina Supreme Court Rules that State Pension Fund May Have to Disclose Information about Pension Fund’s Hedge Fund Investments, Including Hedge Fund and Manager Names, Identity of Manager Principals, Positions, Returns and Fees,” Hedge Fund Law Report, Vol. 3, No. 27 (Jul. 8, 2010).  See generally “Delaware High Court Affirms Order Compelling Defunct Hedge Fund Parkcentral Global to Divulge Its List of Limited Partners to Another Limited Partner in Order to Facilitate Future Litigation Against the Fund and Its Affiliates,” Hedge Fund Law Report, Vol. 3, No. 33 (Aug. 20, 2010).