A suspended Westchester County judge who suffers from obesity and other ailments and who has limited mobility has filed suit against the state court system, alleging that court employees subjected her to discriminatory and humiliating treatment for her disabilities.

Judge Shollenberger

White Plains City Court Judge Elizabeth Shollenberger, who was sworn in to her post in January 2017, has been under suspension for a total of more than 16 months since her appointment and is drawing a $187,200 annual salary.

In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Shollenberger alleges that Lawrence Marks, the Office of Court Administration's chief administrative judge, suspended her because he caved to the demands of employees at the White Plains courthouse who, driven by “irrational phobia” and discriminatory intent, wanted her removed.   

In addition to obesity, Shollenberger is diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and immune thrombocytopenia; as well as diagnoses of lymphedema and a fungal infection in one of her legs that resulted from a 1989 accident at Union Square Station in Manhattan in which she fell between the gap between a subway platform and a train.

Because of her diagnoses, Shollenberger uses a walker to move around and carries an oxygen tank. Her prescribed medications cause stress to her gastrointestinal system, requiring her to have quick access to restrooms, according to her suit.

Shollenberger alleges that courthouse employees dragged their feet in providing her with accommodations, such as installing handrails in courtrooms behind the bench to help her climb the stairs to the judge's seat and providing her with a key to an easily accessible restroom.   

Shollenberger is bringing claims against Marks, the court system and Chief Judge Janet DiFiore under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the New York State Human Rights Law and the Rehab Act.

Shollenberger spent 35 years as a practicing attorney before her appointment to the bench and has been involved with Democratic politics in New York City and in White Plains since the mid-1980s, according to her suit. Prior to her appointment, she was campaign treasurer for White Plains Mayor Thomas Roach.

Her appointment to the bench for a 10-year term was met with controversy, according to media reports: Critics, including a member of the judicial review committee in White Plains that is tasked with assessing candidates' fitness for the bench, publicly blasted the appointment as politically motivated and expressed concerns about Shollenberger's health.      

From January 2017 to May 2017, Shollenberger worked 52 days and was out sick for 36 days, according to her complaint.

After getting sworn in, Shollenberger said she discussed installing railings for the stairs to the judge's seat in two of the courtrooms in White Plains with the chief court clerk, but said the accommodations were not completed until more than two months after the conversation.

After that point, Shollenberger found that a second set of railings would need to be installed, but said that wasn't completed until July.

Shollenberger alleges that courthouse employees refused to give her a key to the judges' restroom.

In a May 2017 incident prior to her first suspension, the judge says she was unable to make it to a bathroom in time and had to relieve herself in a courtroom trashcan, which she says set off “hysterical reaction” among employees at the White Plains courthouse that included employees cordoning off the entrances to the courtroom with yellow police tape.

To add to the humiliation, the judge alleges, the clerk assisting Shollenberger the following day wore yellow rubber gloves. The judge also says she saw three people enter the subject courtroom wearing full hazmat suits.

Shollenberger alleges that she was suspended the second time after she complained that odor-free waste containers had not been placed in the judge's chambers and in a bathroom and after court employees complained about odors from the judge and a leaking bandage on her leg.

OCA spokesman Lucian Chalfen said that Shollenberger was suspended for the “health and safety of the employees and litigants who use the court.”

But Shollenberger argues in court papers that the health and safety excuse is just a “pretext” to make her work environment intolerable, to tarnish her reputation and ultimately remove her from her position because of her disabilities.

Shollenberger says Marks and other court system employees did not speak with her and did not discuss the judge's health issues with her prior to her suspension; she argues that court system officials have suspended her with the hope that they could outwait the judge until she either gives up in her efforts to get back to work or will “simply get sick and die.”

Cary Kane attorneys Anthony Consiglio, Tara Jensen and Larry Cary represent Shollenberger.

“The ADA and other disability discrimination laws are intended to foster dialogue and restraint, so that a disabled person is not shut out of a public accommodation or suspended from doing her job without a discussion and examination of whether she can do her job with a reasonable accommodation,” Consiglio said in a written statement. “That did not happen here.”

Chalfen said that the court system has made numerous accommodations for Shollenberger, including installing railings and ramps, but declined to comment on her suit further.

The judge also alleges that court employees used the taint of “obesity” when speaking with the media in an effort to “tarnish her reputation.”

In June 2017, the New York Post published an article quoting Mark Elliott, the member of the judicial review committee in White Plains who raised alarm about Shollenberger's appointment to the bench; as well as anonymous sources within the court system who provided unflattering accounts of the judge's digestive issues.

In her suit, Shollenberger called the article “inflammatory” and “stigmatizing,” and said the Post falsely reported that the judicial review committee rejected her application for a judgeship.

“The article included a host of wildly inaccurate, crass, and hateful allegations, quoting and attributing unnamed court employees,” her suit states.