Street vendors to savor $188,000 worth of justice

More than 300 street vendors who said their food carts had been unfairly confiscated by the city will get a taste of justice with the $188,531 settlement of a class-action lawsuit.

Food vendors Sanwar Ahmed and Ana Beustan alleged in a lawsuit filed in April 2017 that the city had seized their carts for health violations and then destroyed them.

The carts were lost in city bureaucracy after health inspectors allegedly failed to give the vendors an NYPD voucher to retrieve the carts after fines were paid.

Beustan, who sells flavored ice, even paid a $1,000 fine with the expectation that her pushcart would be returned, only to learn that it had been trashed, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in Manhattan Federal Court.

Ahmed, who sold rice puffs in Queens, spent nearly a month trying to figure out what the city had done with his pushcart, food storage containers and other items. He eventually received word from a police officer that his belongings “most likely have been discarded,” the lawsuit said.

Their case became a class action representing 319 vendors who claimed health inspectors had not followed proper protocol. Each vendor will get an average of $591.

The lawsuit cited email correspondence with Isaac Popoola, a Department of Health director, that seized food carts “will not be vouchered by NYPD but crushed by (the Department of Sanitation).”

The settlement, announced in a court filing on Thursday that requires a judge’s approval, also includes refresher training for Department of Health staff regarding the use of vouchers when confiscating vending equipment.

“A fair settlement has been reached in the best interest of all parties,” a Law Department spokesman said.

The Urban Justice Center’s Street Vendor Project, which filed the lawsuit, declined to comment.