A probationary police sergeant was so upset over a poor evaluation he received from a lieutenant that he went and sued the NYPD. According to Michael J. Fox (yes, that is his name) an unnecessarily negative review by Platoon Commander Lieutenant Roger Lurch led him to lose a year-long paid leave of absence and a scholarship to Hunter College—and so sued to get both back [PDF]. Maybe the fact that Fox is gay and Lurch is not could help his case? more ›

Last week, State Supreme Court Justice Alice Schlesinger ordered the city to release email correspondence between Mayor Bloomberg's office and former Schools Chancellor Cathie Black shortly before she took office, because Black and her staff were "de facto agents of the city." The city had argued that the documents weren't subject to New York's FOIL, and would be an invasion of privacy if released. Schlesinger called this logic "particularly specious," and gave the city 15 days to turn the documents over. The city has decided to appeal the ruling. Connie Pankratz, the Law Department's deputy communications director, tells us, "We believe the emails are exempt from FOIL and are filing an appeal tomorrow." more ›

The number of lawsuits for wrongful arrest and excessive force by the NYPD has been rising steadily since 2001, soaring to 1,800 suits filed last year, up from 1,600 in 2008. Taxpayers paid out $61 million to settle lawsuits last year, up from $59 million in 2008. The city's spent $305 million total over the past decade to settle these cases out of court, and as the Daily News reports, that number doesn't even include settlements the city makes before an actual lawsuit is filed. more ›

Aban Cooper, a paralegal for the City's Law Department, was reportedly forced out after 32 years for ignoring repeated warnings not to send sexually explicit emails. According to the Post, a judge determined that he sent or received over 19 lewd emails last April, printed suggestive material from the office printer, and sent even more emails last fall after being served with disciplinary charges. A psychiatric evaluation determined Cooper suffered from "sexual addiction," making him the latest to come down with the disease in this nationwide outbreak. Cooper has reportedly "decided to retire" in the wake of the scandal. more ›

What one way a suspected drug gang member can muster up some cash legally? By suing the city! An alleged Brooklyn drug crew has apparently raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars by filing civil rights lawsuits against the city—all because the city rather settle the suits than go to court. A NYC Law Department spokeswoman told the Daily News, "Although we are often successful at trial, it can be more expensive to defend a case than to settle it." more ›

Starting at noon, pedicab owners began a protest down Broadway to voice their opposition to a new city law that started today. Pedicab owners sued the city yesterday in state Supreme Court, claiming the Department of Consumer Affairs distrusted licenses for pedicabs unlawfully. A law passed earlier this year, which pedicab drivers protested, limits the number of pedicab licenses to 325 and preference was supposed to be given to existing pedicab owners before any other operators. more ›

The city has agreed to pay $2 million to the parents of an unarmed Brooklyn teen who was fatally shot by a police officer three years ago. In January 2004, police officer Richard Neri was patrolling a Brooklyn rooftop with another officer at 1AM. Around the same time the other officer had opened a door to the stairwell, Timothy Stansbury and his friends were heading upstairs, to go to a party in another building in the Louis Armstrong Houses development by crossing over the roofs. But Neri had fired his gun and Stansbury died an hour and a half later. The NY Times has a particularly evocative illustration of the circumstances of the death. more ›

One couple who got married this weekend had a leg up on many other brides and grooms: They know event planning. As Lauren Berger and Stuart Ruderfer's NY Times wedding announcement explains, Berger works for NYC Big Events, a city agency that works on landing and promoting high-profile events, while Ruderfer is the founder and CEO of Civic Entertainment Group, which creates marketing opportunities and events. And they met when Berger worked at Civic Entertainment, where they got to know each other.

As their feelings deepened, she said, “I realized it was probably better in terms of the company and the other employees that I look for another job.” She left in 2003. more ›

The Brooklyn DA's office arrested four NYC Transit Authority workers for trying to bilk the Workers' Compensation system of thousands of dollars for "injuries they either never sustained or grossly exaggerated." For instance, there's Valerie Scroggins, a bus driver who said that she suffered a shoulder injury last September. Between September and January of this year, she received $13,348.98 in checks for her injury. But in November, she took a fateful trip to Europe. more ›

Gail Donoghue, special counsel for the city’s Law Department, began the hearing by telling Judge Haight that he overstepped his judicial powers in February when he essentially made his own court the enforcer for police guidelines that govern the investigation of political activity. Ms. Donoghue said that by making the court the final arbiter of police surveillance issues, the judge had in fact begun to “oversee operations of the Intelligence Division of the Police Department.” more ›

A judge sided with the city and is allowing police files to remain secret. After the NY Times ran two stories about how the NYPD spied on groups at least a year before the 2004 Republican National Convention - and some of the groups did not seem to be intent on breaking the law - questions were raised about police conduct and whether the police broke the law (police cannot spy on organizations unless there is some indication of wrongdoing). more ›

After its story about how the NYPD spied on organizations for at least a year before the 2004 Republican National Convention, the NY Times reports that the city wants to keep NYPD records sealed, in fear that the media will "fixate upon and sensationalize them." Well, that's probably too late. more ›

In a move that makes bag checks at subways look tame, the city has been rolling out biometric scanners for agencies to track its workers. The NY Times reports that scanners are "part of CityTime, an ambitious effort by the city’s Office of Payroll Administration to automate timekeeping," because there's nothing the Bloomberg administration likes better than technology. Unions support automated timekeeping, but they do not like their members needing to scan their hands every time they come and go. And then there's this:

Cecelia McCarthy, an official in the Organization of Staff Analysts, another union representing employees at the department, said one worker complained after a colleague with an injured hand was asked to remove a bandage and place the hand — with an open finger wound — on the machine.

The family of Matthew Velez, a 17 year old who was fatally beaten while in a juvenile jail at Rikers in 2000, has accepted a $650,000 settlement with the city. Velez was being held there for a minor drug charge, but was attacked by members of the Bloods. Back in 2004, Newsday found that Rikers guards made "major errors...[that] contributed to Velez's beating and his subsequent death.":

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“The guy never even came over to see what had happened,” Ms. Kelly said in a near-whisper. “He got out of his truck and walked away.” As she pleaded for someone to call 911, the driver and some of his colleagues “just stood off and watched,” she said. “Nobody offered anything, nothing like, ‘Can I help?’ That all came from other bikers who came upon the scene.” more ›

In May 2003, the NYPD were trying to raid a CD priacy ring at the Chelsea Mini-Storage. A cop, Brian Conroy, walking the dark labyrinth of the facility ended up fatally shooting Ousmane Zongo, an immigrant from Burkina Faso who had been working on African art in another storage unit. Yesterday, Zongo's family accepted a $3 million settlement from the city as an "apology" to end their wrongful death lawsuit. The city Law Department said, "The city shares its sympathy with the Zongo family and we hope this settlement helps bring closure to his family in this very tragic case." The NY Times describes the other trials against Conroy:

During [the past two years], the officer, Bryan A. Conroy, was tried twice for the killing, producing a mistrial on manslaughter charges, a conviction for criminally negligent homicide, and a sentence of five years’ probation and 500 hours of community service. He was also fired from the Police Department. He has appealed his conviction and sentence. more ›

Is someone blaming a first year associate somewhere? The lawyers for Paul Esposito, a 26 year old man whose legs were amputated after being mangled in the 2003 Staten Island crash, accidentally sent out a news release saying that the city had settled with Esposito for over $25 million. The NY Times says the release showed up on the AP wires, only for the city's Law Department to say there was no settlement (and that the "settlement amount set forth in the plaintiff's press release bears no relationship whatsoever to the number that had been discussed") and for the law firm, the Cochran (yes, that Cochran) Firm, to say the earlier press release was "premature." D'oh! Esposito's mother is angry at the firm, blaming their incompetence on the loss of Johnnie ("My son has no money and I can't help him. He has no money for rent and no money to live on but $800 a month. He's struggling, but he always has a smile."). Gothamist wonders if this snafu can limit the Cochran Firm's take on the settlement, as we're sure the city is freaking out to make sure they don't pay anywhere near the $25 million. more ›

The NY Times has an obituary for 95 year old Edith Spivack, a lawyer for the city's Law Department, and she lived a long, amazing life. Spivack started working for the city in 1934 and only retired last year, and in those 70 years of working for the city (and through 10 mayors, from LaGuardia to Bloomberg), she helped keep the city out of bankruptcy in the 1960s and would make foreign consulates pay their water bills by calling them up herself. Plus, Spivack was funny:

At a Christmas party last year at which Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg awarded her a public service plaque, the mayor tried to make small talk and asked when she graduated from college. Ms. Spivack replied that she graduated from Barnard College in 1929. more ›

It turns out the Cardozo is, in fact, a descendent of Bejamin Cardozo, the Supreme Court justice that the Law School on 5th Avenue and 12th Street is named after. And learn more about what the New York City Law Department does. more ›