January 18, 2008
TWO FOR TWO
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The NYCTA is playing all their cards to hold back transgender justice |
Bringing Tracy Bumpus and transgender people in New York one step closer to justice, on Thursday, January 17, an appellate court affirmed a July decision to deny a motion to dismiss a lawsuit against the New York City Transit Authority and one of its employees over the mistreatment of Bumpus, a transgender case manager at Housing Works.
The case arose from a series of events which occurred in the summer of 2006, including a ten-minute homophobic and transphobic tirade by an NYCTA employee aimed at Bumpus as she waited to take the subway to work. This past July, Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Sylvia Hinds-Radix denied a motion by the NYCTA to dismiss the lawsuit on the claim it was not responsible for what it described as the individual actions of one of its employees.
The fact that Bumpus endured a series of transphobic incidents convinced Hinds-Radix that Bumpus' allegations involved far more than a single isolated incident, supporting her claim that the NYCTA could have and should have done something about its employee's actions. Thursday's decision by the Appellate Division, Second Department, related to a second NYCTA attempt to get the Bumpus suit dismissed based on the claim that Bumpus' complaint was deficient. The NYCTA argued that Bumpus' complaint never explicitly pled that the NYCTA "knew or should have known" of its employees' potential for abuse.
With yesterday's dismissal in the appellate court of the NYCTA's flimsy technical argument, the NYCTA has the option of appealing again. If recent history of the case is any precedent, the NYCTA will do so. "The Transit Authority has fought us tooth and nail," said Armen Merjian, Housing Works Senior Staff Attorney. "We wish they would do the right thing. All this does is delay justice."
The NYCTA also filed a motion that was argued in Brooklyn Supreme Court this Wednesday against "Jane Doe," the transit employee who engaged in the transphobic verbal assault on Bumpus. The NYCTA attempted to argue that its employees are immune from liability under the New York City Human Rights Law, which prohibits discrimination based upon gender identity, because the NYCTA is a public authority so it doesn't have to follow city laws.
Judge Robert J. Miller didn't seem sympathetic to NYCTA's arguments. "That's crazy law!" Miller said of their argument that the case against Doe should be dismissed on a technicality. According to Housing Works staff attorney Bob Bacigalupi, this is probably a good sign. "Any time your judge is referring to your adversaries' motions as 'crazy law' you have to be optimistic."
Keep reading the Update for more details as the Bumpus case progresses.