INSPECTION CLAIMS GET AXED FROM LAWSUIT
Fast-track allegations ‘unnecessary’ in ageism case by chiefs: judge
An age discrimination lawsuit brought by FDNY chiefs won’t delve into allegations that Mayor Adams’ office ordered fast-tracking of fire inspections for companies and businesses friendly with his administration, a judge has ruled.
The so-called Deputy Mayor of Operations list — which allegedly was made up of deep-pocketed developers whose inspections were to be bumped up on fire inspectors’ to-do lists — was highlighted in an ongoing ageism suit filed in March 2023 by a group of chiefs against FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh.
But Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Patria Frias-Colon has ruled that the claims are “unnecessary” to the main issues in the lawsuit, which centers on claims by the chiefs that Kavanagh has unfairly sidelined them because they were “at or near” age 60.
The list — known as the “DMO list” because it fell under the purview of the Deputy Mayor of Operations — “became a mechanism to press the FDNY to permit politically connected developers to cut the inspection line,” according to a lawsuit filed by Fire Chief Joseph Jardin and other department brass. “Developers with access to City Hall could get their development projects onto the DMO list.”
The allegation is one of several the city asked Frias-Colin to strike from the 80page lawsuit as “scandalous and prejudicial” and unrelated to claims that Jardin and other chiefs were demoted and treated unfairly.
Frias-Colon ordered the section of the lawsuit complaint that discusses the DMO list be excised.
“Without going into details [this section] broadly alleges, in substance, that the FDNY, with the assistance of the Deputy Mayor of Operations ‘fast tracked’ the FDNY inspections for influential friends of City Hall,” Frias-Colon wrote in a decision filed in December. “[This] meets the ‘scandalous or prejudicial’ test, as well as the ‘unnecessary test.’
“Allegations about matters that are irrelevant to the viability of a cause of action which are also scandalous or prejudicial to the adversary party may be stricken from the pleading,” Frias-Colon found, adding that the chiefs can appeal the decision.
Other sections Frias-Colon ordered removed from the lawsuit included allegations that Kavanagh had demoted women and people of color and that she made “unethical or ill-advised” decisions in leading the FDNY.
Additionally, Frias-Colon struck from the case references to five-year-old rumors about a relationship between Kavanagh and FDNY Deputy Commissioner JonPaul Augier, who is also a defendant in the chiefs’ suit, and that she was slow to act on the dangers of e-bike batteries.
“Aside from serving as mocking jibes at defendant Kavanagh, the allegations concerning the nature and quality of her administrative decisions as the FDNY Commissioner are unnecessary and immaterial to the plaintiffs’ claims,” Frias-Colon said.
A new amended complaint without the sections the judge ordered removed was filed with the court on Jan. 25.
City attorneys hailed the judge’s decision