Bellere v. City of New York

Nature of the Document

The provided text is a November 13, 2025 letter from counsel for the plaintiffs to Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein. It presents the plaintiffs’ request and Health and Hospitals Corporation’s response concerning discovery of medical records. The text does not contain a judicial analysis, order, or stated disposition.

Background

The case is described as a putative class action brought by 15 plaintiffs concerning detainees’ exposure to fire and smoke while incarcerated in the North Infirmary Command at Rikers Island on April 6, 2023. The letter states that, on July 9, the court ordered the City of New York to identify people incarcerated in that facility on the date of the fire. The City identified 287 people. After excluding the plaintiffs, people involved in prior settlements, and others, plaintiffs’ counsel estimated that 260 people could be potential class members.

Counsel stated that they had located 143 of those people and received 50 signed authorizations for the release of protected health information. Counsel also stated that approximately 25 additional authorizations were deficient and had not been produced to Health and Hospitals Corporation. On November 12, Health and Hospitals Corporation agreed to provide records associated with authorizations containing enough information to locate the records.

Plaintiffs’ Request

The plaintiffs asked the court to require Health and Hospitals Corporation to produce medical records from April 6, 2023, through September 6, 2023, for potential class members whose authorizations counsel had not obtained. They also asked for production of additional post-April 6, 2023 records for people whose authorizations had been provided, to the extent those records were not already being produced under the authorizations.

The plaintiffs asked the court to enter a proposed protective order. They argued that the records were relevant, not otherwise obtainable, and needed to identify class members, develop possible subclasses, address class-certification issues, understand the alleged harm, identify medical experts, and conduct settlement discussions. They also argued that Health and Hospitals Corporation had not provided evidence showing that the requested production would be unduly burdensome.

Health and Hospitals Corporation’s Position

Health and Hospitals Corporation objected to producing records for people whose signed releases had not been obtained. It argued that plaintiffs’ counsel had already received other discovery that could help identify potential class members, including injury reports and complaints or grievances concerning the fire. Health and Hospitals Corporation characterized the request for records from more than 200 people as an improper fishing expedition and raised privacy concerns.

Health and Hospitals Corporation also argued that plaintiffs’ counsel had obtained 50 releases and had not explained why counsel could not obtain releases from the remaining potential class members. It further contended that Correctional Health Services was not a covered entity under the cited federal health-privacy regulation and that confidentiality was instead governed by a New York City rule.

Regarding burden, Health and Hospitals Corporation stated that collecting records for people with properly completed releases would take about three to four weeks, that some records would require redaction, and that separate detention periods might require separate retrievals. It estimated that collecting records for more than 200 people could take several months. It asked that the plaintiffs’ motion to compel be denied.

Disposition and Classification

The provided text does not state that Judge Hellerstein ruled on the request for medical records, the proposed protective order, or the motion to compel. Because the text is a party submission rather than a court ruling, there is no disposition to report. The matter concerns discovery in a putative class action, but the supplied text does not establish a holding.