The New York Center for Law and Justice was recently featured on the front page of the New York Law Journal on December 7, 2015. Click here to see the full article.

New York, NY – The New York Center for Law and Justice (NYCLJ), a legal services organization dedicated to representing the deaf and hard of hearing communities, negotiated individually with the City of New York, as well as jointly with the United States Department of Justice, leading to a landmark settlement requiring the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) to provide American Sign Language interpreters to deaf individuals living within the shelter system.

The settlement arises out of a lawsuit brought by the NYCLJ, along with its pro bono partner, the law firm of Kaye Scholer and litigation partner Jeff Horowitz, on behalf of a deaf client, and her hearing children, as a result of the failure of the New York City shelter system to provide American Sign Language interpreters in shelters.  During the course of the litigation, the NYCLJ and Kaye Scholer learned that the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York was engaged in parallel negotiations with the City involving the same issue. Working jointly with the staff of the United States Attorney’s Office, and at times individually, the NYCLJ and Kaye Scholer secured relief for deaf and hard of hearing shelter residents.

Highlights include The New York City Department of Homeless Services’ commitment to ensure that:

1. Each shelter makes available a qualified interpreter upon request;
2. The homeless shelter system provides the presence of visible alarm appliances for fire and smoke detection; and
3. Training will be provided to all City employees involved with the DHS homeless shelter system.

Additionally, if DHS refers a shelter resident who is deaf or hard of hearing to the New York City Human Resources Administration, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development or the New York City Housing Authority for assistance, DHS will notify the respective agencies that the shelter resident must be provided with a qualified interpreter during the appointment. This can help deaf individuals in the City’s Shelter system when submitting a Section 8 housing voucher and for the purposes of obtaining subsidized permanent housing. In addition to Liz Gitlin and Bruce J. Gitlin, of the NYCLJ, as mentioned, plaintiffs were represented by Kaye Scholer litigation partner Jeff Horowitz, who is Chair of the NYCLJ’s board and who supervised the matter at Kaye Scholer, and associate Kacy Wiggum, who led the team of associates representing the deaf client and her children that included, among others, David Harris, Will Madden, Ashley Holmes, and Stephanna Szotkowski. 

A deaf woman who sued the District of Columbia Superior Court claiming she was unlawfully denied an interpreter for grand jury service has received an apology from the chief judge.

Michelle Koplitz on Wednesday voluntarily withdrew her lawsuit accusing the court of violating the federal Americans With Disabilities Act. In a letter to Koplitz sent Sept. 19, Chief Judge Lee Satterfield expressed his “profound regret” at what happened.

“Please be assured that it is the policy of the Superior Court—and it has been so for many years—to provid[e] all citizens the ability to perform grand and petit jury service,” Satterfield wrote.

One of Koplitz’s lawyers, Joseph Espo of Brown Goldstein Levy, said on Wednesday that the court and the D.C. government’s “response was very prompt, in no way defensive or attempting to suggest that what happened should have happened or was permissible.

“It just should be a reminder that public entities not only need appropriate policies, but they need to do training sufficient so that everyone who’s involved in implementing those policies implements them properly,” Espo said.

Satterfield said in an interview on Wednesday that the incident was an “unfortunate mistake.” He said there was no indication that the jury office previously told prospective jurors that the court wouldn’t pay for an interpreter. Please see the National Law Journal here to read the full post.

The fight for justice can wear on the body. That is something that Clint Barton, the member of Marvel’s Avengers known as the archer Hawkeye, is going to have to learn to cope with. In issue No. 19 of “Hawkeye,” which arrives in stores on July 30, the writer Matt Fraction and the artist David Aja show the aftereffects of a battle that has left their hero with profound ear damage.

The story strives to connect readers with what he is experiencing: when he can’t hear, the word balloons on the page are blank. The comic also makes extensive use of sign language, but provides no key to interpreting them. “If nothing else, it’s an opportunity for hearing people to get a taste of what it might be like to be deaf,” Mr. Fraction said.

Drawing the issue was “very difficult,” Mr. Aja said. Without the traditional dialogue, his ability to convey gestures was even more critical. Mr. Aja also had to devise ways to depict certain signs that required multiple movements in a clear way. “There’s so much subtlety and expression on the page,” said Sana Amanat, the book’s editor. “You can understand what’s going on even without the balloons.”

The story builds on past adventures, including one where Hawkeye inflicted ear damage on himself to defeat a foe. (The hero’s reluctance to let on that he relied on a hearing aid once led him to demand interview questions in advance of an appearance on “Late Night with David Letterman.”)

The idea of using sign language came from a source closer to home. “When my wife and I had children, we taught them to sign,” Mr. Fraction said. “It cut down on their frustration immensely because they can tell you want they’re thinking.” He consulted with Rachel Coleman, who founded Signing Time, which sells instructional programs aimed at infants and children learning to sign, on how to approach the story’s use of signing. “There was a different grammatical and idiomatic structure,” he said. “Facial expressions were very important.”

Please see the New York Times here to read the full post.

YAKIMA, Wash. — A federal judge has ordered Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences in Yakima to accommodate a deaf student this fall after the man filed a lawsuit claiming the school discriminated against him by withdrawing his acceptance.

In a preliminary injunction issued Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Salvador Mendoza said PNWU’s defense that accepting the student, Zachary Featherstone, would be a fundamental change for the university was “wholly speculative” and lacking in merit.

“The patient safety and clinical program concerns raised by PNWU are unfounded, based upon the growing trend of successful deaf health care professionals,” Mendoza wrote. “While PNWU is a small, new medical school, when they opened their doors to providing students an education, they, like other schools, have to obey legal obligations that come with providing those services.”

The injunction was granted after oral arguments Tuesday in U.S. District Court, Eastern District, in Yakima. Please see the Yakima Herald to read the full post.