One Brooklyn
BROOKLYN, NY, November 8, 2018: Today, New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH) Commissioner and Chief Administrative Law Judge Fidel F. Del Valle, Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams, and Assembly Assistant Speaker Félix W. Ortiz announced that OATH’s Neighborhood Pop-Up Court for City-issued summonses will come to Sunset Park on Thursday, November 15th at the district office of Assistant Speaker Ortiz, located at 5004 Fourth Avenue. OATH will be conducting hearings from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM on that day in the Pop-Up Court, which allows people to fight certain summonses at a hearing with an OATH hearing officer without having to travel outside of their neighborhood. Full translation services will be available in up to 250 languages, and respondents will be sent the hearing officer’s decision in the mail within seven days.
“As the City’s central independent administrative law court, OATH’s top priority is to make it as easy as possible for those who have been issued summonses from City enforcement agencies to have their day in court,” said OATH Commissioner and Chief Administrative Law Judge Del Valle. “Our Neighborhood Pop-Up Courts program brings the court to where you work and live, so that fighting City summonses and accessing justice at OATH is more convenient and less time consuming.”
Through the Neighborhood Pop-Up Courts program, OATH travels to neighborhoods across the five boroughs to conduct hearings directly in the community at community boards, libraries, offices of elected officials, and other civic organizations in an effort to increase response rates to City-issued summonses by making it more convenient for people to access justice at the City’s administrative law court.
“I am pleased to partner with OATH and Assistant Speaker Ortiz on a Neighborhood Pop-Up Court in Sunset Park, bringing the City closer to the communities it serves on a daily basis,” said Borough President Adams. “This initiative reflects a commitment to supporting residents and small businesses that face commuting challenges. Justice must be accessible to every New Yorker, in every language.”
Types of summonses eligible to be fought at the Pop-Up Court are those issued by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks) and New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY); summonses issued by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) for alleged pest control and rodent violations, as well as those non-criminal, quality-of-life summonses issued by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) such as allegedly having an open container of alcohol, public urination, being in the park after dark, littering, spitting, and excessive noise. As with all summonses, only summonses with upcoming hearing dates are eligible to have a hearing at OATH or at one of OATH’s Pop-Up Courts; this means that the eligible summons must have either a hearing date of Thursday, November 15th or a hearing date after that.
“Too many people have questions about navigating the world of summonses from city offices,” said Assistant Speaker Ortiz. “OATH provides a tremendous service to New Yorkers by helping them to get through the legal system. I urge everyone to come to our event.”
Last year, OATH received approximately 877,000 summonses from various City enforcement agencies. During that time, 44 percent of summonses that were fought at OATH hearings were dismissed by hearing officers.
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