Court’s flub will cost taxpayers

NEW YORK taxpayers are on the hook for $335,000 due to a Manhattan Supreme Court clerk’s failure to make new lawsuits promptly available to the public.

Manhattan Federal Court Judge Edgardo Ramos approved the hefty attorney fees late last month in a lawsuit brought by Courthouse News Service.

The service had said county Clerk Milton Tingling’s policies prevented reporters — and the public — from accessing certain high-profile civil cases even though they were technically filed and covered by select media outlets. Some Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuits were being withheld for a day or more while Tingling’s employees finished clerical work.

Tingling “has complied with the preliminary injunction by modifying the New York State Courts electronic filing system to permit the immediate public online viewing of case(s),” Ramos wrote in a five-page order regarding the fees.

Tingling did not respond to a request for comment.

A spokesman for the Office of Court Administration declined to comment.