Adams said the city spent a record $213 million in decisions and settlements between July and October. Preliminary management report.
This total is a staggering 200% increase from the $60 million spent during the same period in fiscal year 2023, and a review of previous reporting shows that four months covered by PMMR date back at least to fiscal year 2002. This is a record of the period. show.
Ken Girardin, director of research at the Empire Public Policy Center, a conservative watchdog group, said New York City’s tendency to settle any problem, big or small, makes it an attractive target for civil lawsuits.
“When it comes to litigation, New York City government is the big shirtless guy in a cloud of mosquitoes,” he said.
Here are the biggest blows to city taxpayers:
- A federal class action lawsuit brought by former Rikers University inmates has awarded more than $167 million. Inmates were held for up to a day after posting bail, violating a city law that requires release within three hours. Inmates have previously blamed outdated computer glitches and staffing shortages for delays in the release. “I hope the city reviews the money spent by the inmates and reforms its practices rather than face similar lawsuits,” said Debra Greenberger, an attorney for the inmates. A Department of Corrections spokesperson said the department has since implemented a new bail tracking system to speed up releases.
- According to court records, Carlton Roman was falsely arrested and convicted in November 1990 for the murder of his “good friend” Lloyd Witter and the shooting death of another man in Queens, Jamaica, and served 43 years. He was sentenced to more than one term of imprisonment. Queens Prosecutor Melinda Katz vacated Roman’s conviction in August 2021 after new evidence and witnesses refuted the allegations and testimony in her original trial as the shooter.
- More than $3.1 million was awarded to Anne Monokey, a Manhattan mother and fashion director who risked her life to save her children from a falling tree in Central Park in 2017. One of her lawyers said at the time that Monokee fractured her cervical vertebrae and left her “completely unable to move.” Because of this injury, she was unable to breastfeed her two-month-old baby. “Ms. Monokey’s case was vigorously defended by the city, and her settlement was the result of independent discussions that took place over many years,” said Nicole Lefkowitz, a spokeswoman for Monokey’s attorney, Jordan Marson.
- $2.35 million to FDNY Lt. Brendan Connolly, who suffered a fractured vertebrae when his fire truck crashed into a sinkhole in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, in August 2016. Residents argued that the city failed to adequately address the recession for years.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said the jump in payments was also due to courts continuing to clear a backlog of cases that built up during the pandemic.
Big Apple district attorneys have vacated dozens of decades-old criminal convictions in recent years.
“We carefully evaluate cases and strive to resolve them in the best interest of the city. A settlement avoids the risk of protracted litigation that could further burden taxpayers.” ” said a Ministry of Justice spokesperson.
The $213 million total includes $13 million that the city announced in July to support Black Lives Matter protesters who say they were assaulted and wrongfully arrested by police in June 2020. The explosive settlement of a federal class action lawsuit is not included, the Department of Justice announced. Not finalized yet.
