Steinway, New York, May 20, 2009 — Isaacs, Devasia, Castro & Wien LLP partner Richard Koehler appeared on WABC TV Channel 7’s coverage of a lawsuit the New York City Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association is filing against the City of New York. The lawsuit claims that not enough is being done to protect corrections officers after an inmate at Rikers Island was confirmed to have swine flu.
THE NEW YORK TIMES – Big Deal: Twists and Turns
By: Josh Barbanel
May 8, 2009 — Jerry Francesco and his wife, Lucille, have experienced the ups and downs of ordinary human life in the rarefied spaces designed by celebrity architects during the late lamented condominium construction boom in Manhattan.
Late last month, Mr. Francesco, who built and sold a business providing support services to dialysis patients, and his wife paid $7.9 million for a sprawling penthouse at the 22-story Brompton, a new red brick and limestone condominium designed by Robert A. M. Stern at East 85th Street and Third Avenue.
The apartment has five bedrooms, a maid’s room and 3,300 square feet of space in a building with an arched entrance way and a lobby with a marble floor and two landscaped interior courtyards. And to the delight of the Francescos and their lawyer, the condo comes without a private cobblestone sidewalk and driveway.
In 2005, when the real estate boom was young, the couple, who have a home in southeastern Pennsylvania, bought a condo at One Beacon Court, a new building on 58th Street and Third Avenue designed by Cesar Pelli.
The central feature of Mr. Pelli’s design was an elliptical wall of glass that wraps around an intimate cobblestone courtyard beneath a soaring 58-story skyscraper. Condos in the building sold fast, with the sponsor sometimes increasing the prices overnight. The Francescos paid $2.9 million for a two-bedroom apartment on the 42nd floor.
But less than a year later, Ms. Francesco was walking in the courtyard when she tripped over a wheelchair ramp leading from the sidewalk to a driveway. The sidewalk and the roadway were both paved with the same granite stone, and were the same color, except for a thin accent line of darker stone along the curb.
Ms. Francesco, who is in her 60s, fractured her wrist and required surgery to install a plate and screws to help the fracture heal.
The day after she fell, Mr. Francesco said, the building managers put warning signs on both sides of the curb cuts; they eventually installed large planters to prevent others from falling.
In a case that has been wending its way through federal and state court, Ms. Francesco’s lawyer, Mathew Paulose Jr. of Isaacs, Devasia, Castro & Wien LLP, has been assembling evidence in an effort to show that the developer, Steven Roth, the chairman of Vornado Realty Trust, personally selected the paving stones and intentionally put the architect’s vision and aesthetics ahead of safety. The Francescos are seeking up to $1 million in damages.
“These individuals who were trying to be masters of the universe in New York City, they don’t care about the little people,” Mr. Paulose said.
A Vornado spokesman said this version of events was “totally incorrect,” and in court papers the building blames Ms. Francesco’s own negligence for her fall.
But in a deposition, Mr. Francesco said that after his wife fell, a doorman told him he had seen people trip and stumble over the sidewalk ramp “at least once a day.” Mr. Francesco said that when he asked the building manager, Sean O’Sullivan, why nothing had been done about the ramp, he was told that “they did not want to spoil the architectural appearance of the building.”
Mr. O’Sullivan did not return a phone message left at his office.
The court record includes several memos from an engineering firm that were sent to Vornado and the Pelli firm, warning that at least several designs for the courtyard paving created a “trip hazard” and “potential liability issues relating to pedestrian safety” as long as “the sidewalk and street are the same color and material.
The case had an unusual twist that might be of interest to condominiums. After many hours of depositions and several years in federal court, the case was thrown out by Judge Lawrence M. McKenna in January. It had been brought in federal court because the primary residence of the Francescos is in Pennsylvania. But the judge found that the “citizenship” of the condominium association was in question, since the members lived in many places, including Pennsylvania.
The case was refiled in State Supreme Court in Manhattan.
The Francescos sold their Beacon Court apartment last summer, before the falloff in prices, benefiting perhaps from the architectural stature of the building. They received $5.95 million for it, nearly doubling their investment.
Mr. Palouse said the couple sold because they wanted an apartment on a quieter street outside of the central business district.
New York Taxi Workers Alliance Files Federal Lawsuit Against NYC TLC Over New Technology Program, Which Includes a GPS Tracking System
Class Action Suit Says TLC’s Plan to Place GPS Tracking Software on all Taxi Meters is an Invasion of Privacy and a Violation of Taxi Drivers’ Constitutional Right to their Property
New York, September 19, 2007— The New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA), which represents over 10,000 taxi drivers, held a press conference today at the office of their General Counsel, Isaacs, Devasia, Castro & Wien LLP, to announce their filing of a federal class action lawsuit against the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC), which seeks both a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to block the TLC from installing a technology software program that includes GPS tracking on all New York City taxi meters. The lawsuit was filed in United States Southern District Court on behalf of NYTWA and all drivers, particularly those drivers who own their own medallions and who are most at risk to incur penalties if they refuse to comply with the TLC’s mandate. Drivers are facing a suspension of their medallions and additional fines if they refuse to sign contracts with the TLC’s chosen GPS vendors.
Isaacs, Devasia, Castro & Wien LLP Wins Federal Lawsuit on Behalf of Nassau County COs
Judge Orders County to Repay More Than $3 Million That Was Illegally
Withheld From Officers’ Paychecks
East Meadow, New York, September 25, 2006 — Members of the Sheriff Officers Association (ShOA) of Nassau County, the union that represents the correction officers at the Nassau County Correctional Facility, have won a federal lawsuit brought against County Executive Thomas Suozzi for illegally and unilaterally imposing a payroll lag on correction officers in September of 2003. Union officials stated that their victory will result in the county being forced to pay back more than $3 million that was illegally withheld from their members’ paychecks.
United States District Court Judge Arthur D. Spatt found that Suozzi’s actions deprived the correction officers of their property in violation of the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and ordered the county to repay the monies withheld, which amounted to a total of 10 days of pay for each correction officer employed, taken over the course of 10 pay periods.
“We are pleased that the court agreed with our argument that the county violated our client’s rights when it unconstitutionally withheld money from their paychecks,” said Malcolm Goldstein, the union’s attorney. “Moving forward, we will continue to protect our client’s rights.”
“In an attempt to balance his budget, Suozzi knowingly made a decision to deprive us of our pay and constitutional rights,” stated ShOA President John Duer. “His actions were irresponsible and callous and clearly narrow-minded. We had every confidence the court would rule in our favor.
“It’s a shame that hard-earned taxpayer money has been spent by Nassau County on a court case to defend the illegal actions of Tom Suozzi who, as a high ranking county official, knew exactly what he was doing,” Duer added. “Someone needs to remind Suozzi that he was elected by the good people of Nassau to lead this county, not to hurt those in law enforcement who put themselves in danger everyday to protect the community. He owes us all an apology.”
The county has been directed by the court to repay the monies withheld from the members of the Sheriff Officers Association, due to the unconstitutional payroll lag policy instituted by County Executive Tom Suozzi, within 60 days of the decision, which was handed down on September 15, 2006.
The Sheriff Officers Association (ShOA) of Nassau County is the union that formed in 1999 as a result of the Nassau County correction officers’ separation from the Civil Service Employees Association. The union represents approximately 1,100 correction officers who serve at the Nassau County Correctional Facility in East Meadow to protect the safety of the public and over 1,600 inmates housed in the facility.
Isaacs, Devasia, Castro & Wien LLP Wins Federal Lawsuit on Behalf of Nassau County COs
Judge Orders County to Repay More Than $3 Million That Was Illegally Withheld From Officers’ Paychecks
East Meadow, New York, September 25, 2006 — Members of the Sheriff Officers Association (ShOA) of Nassau County, the union that represents the correction officers at the Nassau County Correctional Facility, have won a federal lawsuit brought against County Executive Thomas Suozzi for illegally and unilaterally imposing a payroll lag on correction officers in September of 2003. Union officials stated that their victory will result in the county being forced to pay back more than $3 million that was illegally withheld from their members’ paychecks.
United States District Court Judge Arthur D. Spatt found that Suozzi’s actions deprived the correction officers of their property in violation of the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and ordered the county to repay the monies withheld, which amounted to a total of 10 days of pay for each correction officer employed, taken over the course of 10 pay periods.
“We are pleased that the court agreed with our argument that the county violated our client’s rights when it unconstitutionally withheld money from their paychecks,” said Malcolm Goldstein, the union’s attorney. “Moving forward, we will continue to protect our client’s rights.”
“In an attempt to balance his budget, Suozzi knowingly made a decision to deprive us of our pay and constitutional rights,” stated ShOA President John Duer. “His actions were irresponsible and callous and clearly narrow-minded. We had every confidence the court would rule in our favor.
“It’s a shame that hard-earned taxpayer money has been spent by Nassau County on a court case to defend the illegal actions of Tom Suozzi who, as a high ranking county official, knew exactly what he was doing,” Duer added. “Someone needs to remind Suozzi that he was elected by the good people of Nassau to lead this county, not to hurt those in law enforcement who put themselves in danger everyday to protect the community. He owes us all an apology.”
The county has been directed by the court to repay the monies withheld from the members of the Sheriff Officers Association, due to the unconstitutional payroll lag policy instituted by County Executive Tom Suozzi, within 60 days of the decision, which was handed down on September 15, 2006.
The Sheriff Officers Association (ShOA) of Nassau County is the union that formed in 1999 as a result of the Nassau County correction officers’ separation from the Civil Service Employees Association. The union represents approximately 1,100 correction officers who serve at the Nassau County Correctional Facility in East Meadow to protect the safety of the public and over 1,600 inmates housed in the facility.