New York State Assembly Member Weprin, City Council Member Grodenchik and the NYC Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings Announce “Neighborhood Pop-Up Court” for City-issued Summonses Coming to Eastern Queens

Queens, NY – New York State Assembly Member David Weprin, New York City Council Member Barry S. Grodenchik and officials from the NYC Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH) today announced that OATH’s Neighborhood Pop-Up Court for City-issued summonses will come to their Queens district on Tuesday, September 24, 2019.

The upcoming Pop-up Court will be held at the Hollis Library branch of the Queens Public Library located at 202-05 Hillside Avenue, Hollis, NY 11423. OATH will be conducting hearings from 10a.m. – 4 p.m. on September 24, 2019. The Pop-Up Court allows people to fight certain summonses at a hearing with an OATH Hearing Officer without having to travel outside of their neighborhood. OATH has held more than a dozen similar events in the outer boroughs. The Pop-Up Courts are meant to make it easier for New Yorkers who live in so-called “transportation deserts” to have their day in court.

“Busy New Yorkers from across the city deserve an opportunity to fairly challenge administrative summonses received from the City of New York in person,” said Assemblyman David I. Weprin. “By bringing an Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH) Neighborhood Pop-Up Court to Hollis, the residents of my Assembly district will have the opportunity to dispute a summons at a hearing close to their homes, in person and in front of a hearing officer. I thank Tynia D. Richard, OATH Acting Commissioner and Acting Chief Administrative Law Judge, for continually seeking new ways to expand access to the agency to all New Yorkers and Councilman Barry s. Grodenchik for partnering with my office to host this unique event.”

“I am pleased to partner with New York State Assembly Member David I. Weprin to bring OATH’s pop-up court to Hollis Library,” said New York City Council Member Barry S. Grodenchik. “OATH has hearing division locations in all five boroughs, but traveling from Eastern Queens to Long Island City is sometimes difficult. Having the pop-up court right here in the neighborhood helps make justice more accessible. I thank OATH for this valuable program and am grateful to Hollis Library for hosting the pop-up court.”

“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. 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,” said Marisa Senigo, OATH’s Deputy Commissioner for Public Affairs.

“The Council has played a significant role in partnering with OATH to bring Neighborhood Pop-Up Courts to communities throughout the City. OATH thanks the Assembly member and the Council Member for taking the lead to help provide greater access to justice and make it more convenient for residents and small businesses to challenge their summonses,” said John Castelli, OATH’s Deputy Commissioner for Legislative Affairs.

Types of summonses eligible to be fought at the Pop-Up Court are summonses issued by the Sanitation Department and Parks Department; summonses issued by the Health Department for alleged pest control and rodent violations; and those non-criminal, quality of life summonses issued by the NYPD such as allegedly having an open container of alcohol, public urination, being in the park after dark, littering and excessive noise, among others. As with all summonses, only summonses with upcoming hearing dates are eligible to have a hearing at either OATH or at one of OATH’s Pop-Up Courts. This means that the eligible summons must have either a hearing date of September 24, 2019 or a hearing date that is after that. OATH is not the court that holds hearings on parking tickets, traffic or speeding tickets, red light camera tickets or MTA turnstile violation summonses so those summonses cannot be resolved at the Pop-Up Court on September 24th.

About OATH

OATH is the independent administrative law court where nearly all City enforcement agencies file their summonses for hearings. The agencies that file summonses at OATH for hearings include the Departments of Sanitation, Buildings, Health, Parks, Environmental Protection, Consumer Affairs, FDNY and NYPD, among many others. OATH, however, does not conduct parking ticket hearings or hearings on alleged red light or speed camera violations. Last year, OATH received approximately 844,000 summonses from the City’s various enforcement agencies. During that time, 47% of summonses that were fought at OATH hearings were dismissed by OATH Hearing Officers.

About OATH’s Neighborhood Pop-Up Courts

Through the Neighborhood Pop-Up Courts initiative, 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. The program is focused on areas that are so-called “transportation deserts” or are far away from where our borough hearing offices are.

In order to alert people that the Pop-Up is in their neighborhood, OATH will search its system and then send out letters to all respondents with eligible summonses. Letters are sent in both English and Spanish.

OATH staff and Hearing Officers will be available to check in respondents and hold hearings at the Hollis Library until 4pm on Tuesday September 24, 2019. Full translation services will be available in up to 250 languages. Respondents will be sent the Hearing Officer’s decision in the mail within seven days. Press Release.