Smith v. Township of Richmond

OPINION

Justice SAYLOR.

This Sunshine Act dispute concerns whether meetings between an agency and outside entities, including those involved in ongoing litigation with that agency, entailed “deliberations” — and thus, should have been open to the public — where the subject of the meetings was the same as that of the litigation, although the agency claims the meetings were held for information-gathering purposes only.

Appellee Richmond Township was engaged in litigation with the Lehigh Cement Company (“Lehigh Cement”), and the East Penn Valley Residents Group (the “Citizens Group”) as intervenor,…