Brooklyn Supreme Court at 360 Adams St. (Photo: Rick Kopstein)

Public defender organizations launched a lawsuit Tuesday against The New York state court system, saying a criminal court plan to start in-person appearances discriminates against people with disabilities.

The suit, filed in the federal Southern District of New York, is brought by the Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services, the Bronx Defenders, New York County Defender Services, Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem and Queens Defenders. 

"Plaintiffs' clients with these disabilities face the tragic and illegal choice between their fundamental right to participate in their own cases and their health and safety," according to the lawsuit.

Hundreds of clients and staff members with the public defender organizations have medical vulnerabilities that place them at a high risk of death or serious illness from the virus, according to the lawsuit.

"The completely unnecessary rush to throw hundreds of people back into the courts on almost no notice is nothing short of traumatic and irresponsible," the lawsuit argues.

Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks is listed as a defendant. 

The lawsuit says the state court system violates the Americans with Disabilities Act by following a policy that does not take into account a person's disability. The policy also does not provide reasonable modifications, like virtual court appearances or sufficient advance notice for a court appearance, according to the lawsuit.

"Communication has been chaotic at best," according to the lawsuit. "In many cases thus far, neither the Public Defenders nor the individual counsel of record received notice of a case being selected until less than 48 hours prior to the appearance."

The court plan discriminates against individuals with disabilities who "need sufficient notice to seek and receive accommodations or modifications" before an appearance, the lawsuit argues.

The organizations are seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, specifically an order directing the state court system to pause implementation of the in-person order.

State courts spokesman Lucian Chalfen issued a statement saying defender organizations "had already agreed to, and we have already held, in person appearances for some of their clients."

"As we begin our entirely legal plan for a slow return to normalized operations, with a focus on personal health and safety, starting today, we are calendaring approximately 10 in person cases a day in each Court," he said in a statement.

The lawsuit comes days after the organizations publicly objected to the return of the in-person court proceedings for nonemergency matters.

New York County Defender Services executive director Stan Germán said Thursday that, prior to any announcement by court officials, the defender organizations believed OCA had been planning to wait for a report from public health experts who were touring courthouses before reopening.

Germán said there are also questions about whether the move was inspired by New York City Bill de Blasio's statement to The New York Times about the court system "not working" amid a spike in the city's gun violence.

"The mayor came out on Monday, I believe, in The New York Times and essentially blamed the courts not being fully reopened for the rising shootings in uptown Manhattan," Germán said. "I don't understand that logic, I don't know what courts opening in person has to do with those shootings. OCA issued a statement pushing back on any notion that you could make a correlation between the two, but there are individuals who feel that perhaps this was in reaction to the mayor's criticism."

Jane Wester contributed to this report.

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