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.
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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.
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