Gabriella Olivieri Publications Portfolio Annual Report - 2011 | Page 26

LEG A L DIVISIONS PHOTO: HAMILTON HALL, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY Win in a Case on Releasing Teacher Evaluation Data Attorneys won a case brought by the teachers’ union to prevent the Department of Education (DOE) from releasing teacher performance reports requested by several large news organizations pursuant to the Freedom of Information Law. The teachers’ union, which unsuccessfully appealed the decision, argued that releasing teachers’ names would violate their privacy, but the City contended that the information is public. GENERAL LITIGATION CHIEF Thomas Crane DEPUT Y Jonathan Pines DEPUTY Marilyn Richter The General Litigation Division defends the City and its agencies in lawsuits challenging policies and practices concerning important programs in such varied fields as education, health care, public assistance benefits, prison conditions, foster care, and election law. Many of these cases are brought as class actions in federal court, and present significant and often novel issues of statutory and Constitutional interpretation. 23 Protecting the NYPD’s Use of a Stop & Frisk Database The Police Department maintains an information database on people arrested or issued summonses, as required by law, and also uses it as an investigative tool. The New York Civil Liberties Union ?led a class-action lawsuit asserting that since those records are subject to sealing pursuant to the Criminal Procedure Law—absent a subsequent conviction—the NYPD must physically expunge them from its database. Division attorneys successfully argued that the law does not require the sealed records to be expunged and that the plaintiffs did not suffer injury from the records’ mere existence. The Court agreed and dismissed the case, ?nding ?rst that the sealing statutes do not prohibit the NYPD from maintaining the records and, in fact, require the maintenance of such records for disclosure under certain circumstances. The Court also held that no non-constitutional rights were implicated by use of the records in subsequent criminal proceedings and that the sealing statutes did not create a private right of action in the event of a violation. Defending Education: School Closings and Co-locating Charter Schools The Division handled several cases relating to closing failing schools and co-locating charter schools with district public schools. Attorneys successfully defended the DOE’s decision to close 22 failing schools and co-locate 15 public charter schools in DOE buildings. In addition, the Division secured favorable decisions in two cases that challenged the State Education Department’s authority to rule on school co-location matters. Attorneys also successfully defended the co-location of public charter schools with district schools on the Upper West Side and in Brooklyn. Resolution of a Lawsuit Involving Youths Leaving Foster Care The Division handled a proposed class action alleging that youths aged 18-21 leaving foster care were not receiving transitional Medicaid bene?ts, lacked assistance in securing appropriate postdischarge housing, and were not receiving supervision until their 21st birthdays, in violation of State law. The parties resolved the Medicaid issues amicably. With respect to the housing and supervision issues, the parties concluded a settlement concurrently with the ?ling of a complaint. This favorable resolution permitted the agency to focus resources on implementing appropriate policies, rather than on discovery. PR ACTICE SPOTLIGHT Defending the City’s Indigent Defense Plan The Division prevailed in a major legal challenge to changes in its indigent defense plan by a group of bar associations. Criminal defendants who cannot afford an attorney are represented by court-appointed “18B” attorneys, and the City’s new plan changed how cases with con?icts of interest are assigned by shifting these cases to institutional providers like Legal Aid. The bar associations claimed that the City could not legally change the plan without their consent, but a State Court determined that the plan complies with State law requirements. The case is presently on appeal. 24