Elliot v. City of New York
- Naomi Buchwald
- 1:20-cv-00702
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Elliot v. City of New York, Judge Buchwald ordered specified arrest records unsealed for use in Elliot’s civil action.
Dramel Elliot and the defendants in the civil action; the New York City Police Department, the New York County District Attorney’s Office, and specified New York County courts holding the records; the named recipients of the records; and any NYPD members whose personal identifying information appears in them.
What happened
Elliot v. City of New York is a civil case brought by Dramel Elliot and defended by the City of New York’s Corporation Counsel. The parties applied to unseal records concerning the October 29, 2018 arrests of Erik Ciriaco and Axsel Lopez.
The records were held by the New York City Police Department, the New York County District Attorney’s Office, and certain New York County courts. The application stated that the records were material and relevant to Elliot’s case and might otherwise be protected under New York law.
Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald ordered the records unsealed and permitted their use in the civil action. She ordered that they be disclosed to the City’s Corporation Counsel or Jeffrey A. Rothman, treated as confidential under the protective order, and that personal identifying information of NYPD members be treated as restricted to attorneys’ eyes only.
The detailed version
- Elliot v. City of New York · No. 1:20-cv-00702
- Naomi Buchwald
- Jan. 20, 2021
Background
The order concerns records relating to the arrests of Erik Ciriaco, Arrest No. M185655438, and Axsel Lopez, Arrest No. M18655444. The arrests occurred on October 29, 2018, at approximately 3:42 p.m. The records may have been protected from disclosure by New York Criminal Procedure Law §§ 160.50 and 160.55.
The parties applied to unseal the records because the application stated that they were material and relevant to the civil action brought by Dramel Elliot. The court relied on its authority to order the production of records sealed under New York law in connection with a federal civil action.
Ruling
Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald ordered unsealed the relevant records in the possession, custody, or control of the New York City Police Department, the New York County District Attorney’s Office, and the Supreme, Criminal, and/or Family Courts of New York County, State of New York. The records may be made available for use in the civil action.
The court further ordered that the records be disclosed to James E. Johnson, Corporation Counsel of the City of New York, or Jeffrey A. Rothman, Esq. The records were also designated as “Confidential Materials” under the protective order operating under Southern District of New York Local Rule 83.10. Any personal identifying information of an NYPD member included in the records must be treated as “attorney’s eyes only.”
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.