Drawing settlement cash from a gravestone

 

 NY Daily News

The ghost of Queens District Attorney Richard Brown has cost city taxpayers $17.25 million in the past five months.

The money is being paid to settle three lawsuits alleging prosecutorial misconduct during Brown’s tenure leading the office from 1991 to his death in 2019 — and comes amid growing scrutiny of some New York prosecutors’ pursuit of criminal convictions at all costs.

Brown seems to have been aware of his office’s alleged misconduct, which imprisoned people for years for crimes they were later found not to have committed.

At one point, Brown wrote to a top aide, Jack Ryan: “Jack, I think we’ve been getting away with this sort of thing for a long time.”

That quote comes from a document uncovered by Joel Rudin, a lawyer who represents the three men who won the $17.25 million in legal settlements.

“The issue has been percolating for many years and is suddenly capturing public attention more than it ever has before,” said Bennett Gershman, a Pace University law professor who has studied prosecutorial misconduct for nearly 40 years.

The latest previously undisclosed settlement involving the Queens DA’s office was for Kareem Bellamy, who in July reached an $8 million settlement in a lawsuit that claimed he was wrongly arrested for a 1994 murder and sent to prison for 14 years.

Bellamy’s suit alleged that Queens prosecutors withheld key evidence in the case that might have led a jury to exonerate him.

And late in November, school custodian Julio Negron settled for $6.25 million after he was convicted of a 2005 shooting and spent 10 years behind bars. He alleged Queens prosecutors withheld evidence that would have pointed to another suspect.

Increased scrutiny of city district attorneys’ offices has come from a group of law professors, who are trying to use the state’s courts grievance committees to highlight prosecutorial misconduct cases. The professors are fighting an uphill battle.

The group has filed complaints against 21 current and former Queens prosecutors. The city Law Department countered with a complaint to the grievance committees that says by going public with their complaints about prosecutors, the professors are “misus[ing] and indeed abus[ing] the grievance process to promote a political agenda” in a way that “should not be countenanced.”

5 Pointz emerges victorious, 6.75 million dollar case is settled.

 Queens Post

It’s time to pay up.

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal from a New York developer who had been ordered to pay $6.75 million to 21 aerosol artists in 2018 for destroying their work that was on the famous 5Pointz warehouse.

The decision ends a long saga between the artists and G & M Realty, which argued that the company was not liable for destroying the aerosol artwork since it was on their building that has since been demolished.

The dispute began soon after Jerry Wolkoff, the owner of G & M who died in July, announced in 2012 that he planned to flatten the 5Pointz warehouse to build two luxury rental towers. The announcement led to heated protests by hundreds of aerosol artists and their supporters who had turned 5Pointz into a major New York destination.

 he artists filed suit in Brooklyn federal court in the summer of 2013 to stop him from demolishing the building, alleging that Wolkoff would violate their rights under the Visual Artists Rights Act. The 1990 law aimed to protect public art of “recognized stature” even if it is on someone else’s property.

However, in November 2013 Wolkoff hired painters to whitewash the artwork in the middle of night to put the dispute to an end. He banned the artists from the site and refused to allow them to recover any work that could be removed, according to court records.

Wolkoff maintained that the works were temporary and not protected by law, and that he had the right to do as he wished on his property. The warehouse was demolished in 2014 and two residential towers have gone up on the site that are almost complete.

A federal jury ruled in favor of the artists in November 2017, and found that Wolkoff had “willfully” disregarded his requirement under the VARA. He was required to provide the artists with “90 days notice before destroying their work.

 

5 Pointz hits the jackpot, judge rules against Wolkoff

Artnet
 
In a sweeping 32-page decision eviscerating the legal arguments of a disgruntled Queens real estate developer, a US Appeals Court affirmed the rights and monetary damages awarded to a group of graffiti artists whose works were destroyed without warning or consent in 2013.

The artists sued the developer, Gerald Wolkoff, in 2013 for violating their rights after he whitewashed their work at the famous 5Pointz graffiti art mecca in New York to make way for condos. A jury ruled in favor of the artists in November 2017, but it was up to a judge to determine the extent of the damages.

In February 2018, Brooklyn Supreme Court judge Frederick Block awarded the artists a total $6.75 million in a landmark decision. The sum included $150,000—the maximum legal penalty—for each of the 45 destroyed works at the center of the case.

The trial was a key test of the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA), which grants visual artists certain “moral rights” for their work. Previous VARA cases rarely made it to trial, and were instead settled privately.

But the act, which was added to copyright laws in 1990, disallows the modification of works in ways that could be considered harmful to artists’ reputations, and grants protections to artworks deemed to be of “recognized stature.”

In his appeal, Wolkoff challenged practically every aspect of the decision by Judge Block, from the amount of the award, to the suggestion that the graffiti murals at 5Pointz merited protection under the “recognized stature” clause.

But Wolkoff was rebuffed on all points in the latest ruling, and the court took the additionally extraordinary step of citing his own lawyers against him. “Wolkoff’s own expert acknowledged that temporary artwork can achieve recognized stature,” according to the decision.

The ruling also took Wolkoff to task for making misrepresentations about how his business would have been harmed if he did not move to immediately whitewash the works. In his arguments, Wolkoff claimed that certain tax credits available to him would have expired if he did not move quickly to paint over the works.

Yet he did not even have a demolition permit for the building when he began his campaign to cover up the murals.

Congratulations 5 Pointz, you all earned every penny from this disingenuous arrogant jerk.

Judge says "no deal" on public housing plan

From the NY Times:

A federal judge rejected a sweeping settlement on Wednesday that would have appointed a monitor to oversee the troubled New York City Housing Authority and required the city to pump at least $1.2 billion into repairs.

The judge, William H. Pauley III, also strongly suggested that the federal government should take over the authority instead.

In a scathing opinion, Judge Pauley deplored the “breathtaking scope” of the squalid living conditions in the city’s public housing complexes. He rebuked the city for its mismanagement of the agency, and said the federal government had abdicated its legal responsibility to overhaul the nation’s largest stock of public housing that is home to about 400,000 vulnerable New Yorkers.

The unexpected ruling threw the future of the Housing Authority into doubt and unraveled a deal that Mayor Bill de Blasio had staked his reputation on as a champion of public housing tenants.

City to pony up in federal NYCHA settlement

From Crains:

New York City will likely pay $2 billion to settle claims that the nation's largest public housing agency has too often left tenants to contend with lead paint, malfunctioning elevators and rats.

The city agreed in a consent decree in Manhattan federal court to pay $1 billion over four years and $200 million annually until problems are overcome. The deal also calls for the appointment of a monitor to oversee the city-run public housing authority during the 10-year span of the agreement.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called the settlement a "dramatic step" and a "turning point for our public housing system."

NYCHA Consent Decree by Anonymous 80as6U on Scribd

Illegal hotel owner gets off easy

From Crains:

The owner of a Midtown apartment building that for years has been dogged with lawsuits has agreed to settle millions of dollars' worth of outstanding violations for $375,000 and bring the property up to snuff, according to federal bankruptcy court documents.

Ben Zion Suky was one of several owners of 440 W. 41st St. and for years rented apartments for less than 30 days in violation of city code, according to City Hall. In 2015 the Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement filed a lawsuit seeking to shut down the illegal inn and collect damages. Before it was resolved, however, Suky sold the 96-unit building to a company controlled by David Goldwasser, who then filed for bankruptcy protection.

The city argued that Goldwasser was responsible for the outstanding violations and penalties, which totaled more than $2 million, according to the documents. Now the two sides have agreed to settle the suit for $375,000 on the condition that Goldwasser bring the property up to code and cease all illegal hotel operations.

Why ticket quotas aren't a good idea

From the NY Post:

The city will shell out $75 million to settle a class-action lawsuit involving nearly 1 million bogus NYPD summonses allegedly issued to meet quotas, officials said Monday.

The massive payout comes six years after a lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court claimed that cops were forced to issue the tickets for quality-of-life offenses to meet targeted numbers, “regardless of whether any crime or violation” occurred.

The court case involved more than 900,000 summonses that were issued between 2007 and 2015 and eventually dismissed for lack of probable cause.

The people who were ticketed may now be eligible for compensation to the tune of $150 per summons. They will be notified about the claims process in order to get the cash, officials said.

Unfilled potholes cost taxpayers a bundle

From Crains:

New York City should be quicker to repair potholes, which have cost taxpayers $138 million in settlements over the last six years, City Comptroller Scott Stringer said Thursday.

Mr. Stringer released an analysis that showed that the Belt Parkway had the most pothole claims involving vehicles over the six-year period —706— and Broadway was the street with the most pedestrian trip-and-fall claims at 195.

"If you happen to drive on the Belt, please know that you are in our thoughts and prayers," Mr. Stringer joked at a news conference in Greenwich Village.

Mr. Stringer said it took an average of 6.7 days for the Department of Transportation to complete a pothole work order in the first four months of fiscal year 2015, nearly triple the 2.4 days it took in the previous year.

City still shelling out hundreds of millions in judgments

From AM-NY:

Legal payouts by New York City are forecast to spike 17.5 percent by the 2018-19 fiscal year, even as Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration has pumped millions of dollars into a new war on so-called frivolous litigation.

By then, taxpayers could be on the hook for $817 million in judgments and claims, up from $695 million in 2014-15, according to City Council budget documents. About 28,500 claims are filed against the city every year.

The projection is "disturbing" said Carol Kellermann, president of the nonpartisan Citizens Budget Commission.

"Their explanations for why it's going up are counterintuitive to what they say about doing better management," she said.

A de Blasio spokeswoman, Amy Spitalnick, said the administration is being cautious -- projecting an increase of about 4 percent a year based on historical trends -- because of litigation fights it could lose.

Vito Lopez lawsuit settled

From Brooklyn Daily:

The state is shelling out $545,000 in taxpayer money to settle the sexual harassment lawsuit brought by two one-time aides of former assemblyman and Brooklyn Democratic boss Vito Lopez, according to the plaintiffs’ lawyer.

The settlement ends the court proceedings against Lopez, who an Assembly panel said groped, tried to kiss, and made lecherous comments to the two women, Victoria Burhans and Chloe Rivera. Lopez is on the hook for a mere $35,000 towards the settlement.

Cuomo deciding how to spend unexpected budget surplus

From CBS Local:

New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo this week was studying options for how to spend a $4.2 billion state budget surplus.

The windfall came as a result of recent financial settlements with banks and insurance companies, state officials said.

BNP Paribas, for example, agreed to pay a $2.2 billion penalty to the state after pleading guilty to charges that it violated economic sanctions by processing transactions for clients in blacklisted countries including Sudan, Cuba and Iran.

The administration said the windfall from the Paribas penalty will be used to help limit annual spending growth to less than 2 percent, not on special one-time programs or projects. And $298 million from that settlement will go into a special fund for addiction treatment at the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, officials said — a 51 percent boost above the agency’s budget for the year.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration said Monday that it was reviewing options for the remaining unanticipated revenue. Possibilities include paying down state debt, building up the state’s financial reserves, or spending the money on one-time capital expenses.

Chu wins $20K in defamation suit

From the Daily News:

The former traffic agent who City Councilman Dan Halloran accused of speeding through stop signs on a Dunkin' Donuts Coffee Coolatta run has won $20,000 in his defamation suit against the city.
Daniel Chu claimed the stress of the public humiliation left him with Bell's palsy disease.

“My guess is the city settled because Halloran now has no credibility,” said Michael Berkley, Chu’s lawyer.

In court papers, Chu alleged Halloran orchestrated a retaliation campaign after he ticketed the Republican’s chief of staff in 2010.

As a public official, Halloran — who has since been indicted on corruption charges — had the platform to do it and blasted the lowly traffic agent in numerous TV and newspaper interviews.
He claimed Chu was on duty speeding and yakking on his cell phone en route to the chain coffee shop.

Chu had initially asked for $6 million.

He originally asked for $6M and settled for $20K? What a joke.

$686M in lawsuits this year

From 1010WINS:

A new report finds New York City paid out more than $686 million during the last fiscal year in settlements and court awards. The disputes ranged from slip-and-falls to contract disputes to lawsuits against police.

City Comptroller John Liu‘s report Thursday says the total is down very slightly from the previous fiscal year. But he notes that costs are rising in the areas that account for more than three-quarters of the payments: personal injury and property damage.

The city paid out more than $550 million in those areas in fiscal 2011, up more than 5 percent in a year. That includes three consistently expensive areas: claims against police, city hospitals and the city Transportation Department.

“The claims against the NYPD have risen the most,” Liu told 1010 WINS. “We’ve seen a 35 percent increase in the settlement costs for the NYPD as compared to the year before and that’s a very alarming trend that we believe needs to be stemmed and reversed.”

The totals include both lawsuits and matters handled through a city claims process.

Silver testifies about Lopez deal

From the Daily News:

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver testified recently before state ethics commission investigators about his role in the Vito Lopez sexual harassment scandal, the Daily News has learned.

Silver was subpoenaed to discuss how he signed off on a $103,000 taxpayer-funded settlement with two former Lopez staffers who accused the Brooklyn Assemblyman of sexual harassment, a source close to the Speaker said.

A Silver spokesman refused to say whether the powerful Manhattan Democrat testified, saying only: “We’re cooperating fully.”

Silver is the highest ranking official to testify in the ongoing investigation, and one of at least seven people on the Assembly payroll to do so. Others include Silver’s chief counsel Jim Yates and Assembly lawyer William Collins, both of whom spearheaded the secret settlement talks.

Officials in the offices of state Controller Thomas DiNapoli and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman reviewed versions of the settlement agreement, but the two principals are not believed to have testified before the commission, though some of their staffers have, sources said.

Silver has insisted he approved the confidential payout to protect the victims’ privacy, and to save taxpayers from a potential $1.2 million lawsuit. Word of the settlement leaked after Silver announced in late August that he was stripping Lopez of his seniority and leadership positions after the Assembly Ethics Committee found to be credible allegations from two different Lopez staffers who said the lawmaker had sexually harassed them as well.

Silver now admits he should have notified the Assembly Ethics Committee of the two complaints that led to the hush-hush settlement. The Speaker also has said he expects the state ethics commission will ultimately knock his handling of the matter but not find that he committed criminal or ethical violations.

They all knew

From the Wall Street Journal:

Attorneys representing two women in a sexual-harassment dispute against Brooklyn Assemblyman Vito Lopez had initially demanded a settlement payment of $1.2 million before agreeing to a fraction of that amount, according to internal email correspondence made public Thursday by the state attorney general's office.

The emails also show that top legal advisers to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli had been briefed on the major terms of the final prelitigation settlement and didn't raise objections to the ultimate payment of more than $100,000 from state coffers.

In an email dated May 29, days before the agreement was inked, the Assembly majority counsel William Collins wrote to counsels for the attorney general and state comptroller offices to brief them on the talks and share with them a draft copy of the terms. "Note the complainants initially sought $1.2 million and reduced their settlement number only once (to $600,000) before we drew a hard-and-fast line," he said in the email.

Lawyers for the two female complainants, represented by Gloria Allred, a prominent sexual-harassment attorney in Los Angeles, and a Manhattan firm, declined to comment on Mr. Collins's email.

The attorney general's office had no official role in the talks, but Mr. Schneiderman's counsel had several discussions with the Assembly's counsel about how the deal was playing out, according to the email.

Mr. Schneiderman's office suggested minor adjustments to the terms but didn't advise against the proposed payout in taxpayer cash of $103,080, the agreed amount for damages and attorney fees. Mr. Lopez paid an additional $32,000 as part of the deal.

The Staten Island DA has been appointed special prosecutor in this case. he's concerned that the highly political nature of it will lead to leaks.

And despite all this, Lopez will cruise to victory this fall.