{"id":1554,"date":"2024-09-03T19:45:01","date_gmt":"2024-09-03T19:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/?post_type=cases&p=1554"},"modified":"2026-07-08T19:46:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T19:46:07","slug":"streetsblog-v-dot","status":"publish","type":"cases","link":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/cases\/streetsblog-v-dot\/","title":{"rendered":"Streetsblog v. DOT"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Streetsblog NYC<\/em>, represented by the Cornell Law School First Amendment Clinic, filed a groundbreaking lawsuit last week against the New York City Department of Transportation, alleging that DOT systematically violates the state\u2019s Freedom of Information Law by forcing nearly everyone who seeks public records to wait six months before receiving any responsive documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lawsuit asks the New York Supreme Court to issue an injunction directing DOT to end its practice of imposing uniform, half-year-long delays that prevent the public from finding out, in a timely way, what its government is up to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The suit seeks to enforce the basic purpose behind FOIL<\/a> \u2014 to promote an open and democratic government by giving everyone the right to request documents from state agencies. As long as requested documents do not fall into one of the law\u2019s narrow exemptions, the agency is required to provide them \u2014 and it must do so in a timeframe that is reasonable under the circumstances of the individual request, typically within 20 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lawsuit alleges that Streetsblog <\/em>has filed dozens of FOIL requests with the department since 2021, and each one of them has faced a nearly identical, six-month delay. According to the complaint, Streetsblog requested a copy of the DOT Commissioner\u2019s official calendar from a single day. DOT said it would take 187 days to respond. The complaint further alleges that Streetsblog requested DOT\u2019s phone or email directory, and the agency again said it would take 187 days \u2014 and then it ended up missing its own deadline. In another instance, according to the complaint, Streetsblog asked for a copy of a single contract, which it identified by contract number. DOT said its response would take 182 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy imposing a six-month blanket delay in response to every one of our client\u2019s requests, DOT is obviously making no effort to determine what a reasonable response time would be for each request,\u201d said Michael Linhorst, the Clinic\u2019s Local Journalism Attorney. \u201cThey are regularly flouting the clear requirements of the law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Relying on public data, the complaint alleges that Streetsblog<\/em> is not alone. According to the complaint, out of all the requests that DOT received between June 2021 and August 2024, the department gave itself an average of 182 days to respond. Almost every single request \u2014 more than 98 percent of them \u2014 was delayed by longer than 170 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis case is important not just to Streetsblog<\/em> but to scores of reporters around the city whose ability to inform the public depends on receiving timely information from government officials,\u201d said Gersh Kuntzman, editor of Streetsblog<\/em>. \u201cBy routinely delaying virtually every Freedom of Information Law request, the Adams administration effectively delays coverage of its actions so long that it becomes less newsworthy compared to whatever story of the day reporters are chasing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By filing this lawsuit, the Clinic is seeking to establish new legal precedent. While such \u201cpolicy or practice\u201d cases are widely accepted in federal litigation regarding the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), New York courts have not yet recognized the claim under FOIL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPolicy or practice claims give federal FOIA teeth,\u201d said Evan Deakin \u201925, a Clinic student who worked on the complaint. \u201cIf these claims are recognized under New York FOIL, agencies will no longer be able to use delay to circumvent the law\u2019s requirement that government records be available to the public.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lawsuit, Kuntzman et al. v. New York City Department of Transportation<\/em>, is now pending in the New York County Supreme Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to Linhorst and Deakin, Clinic students Andrew Brockmeyer, Sophia Gilbert and Cameron Misner and alumna Fernanda Pires Merouco worked on the lawsuit and the legal arguments behind it, with supervision from Heather Murray, Managing Attorney of the Clinic\u2019s Local Journalism Project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
9\/3\/2024: Complaint<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
9\/3\/2024: Memorandum of law<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Streetsblog NYC, represented by the Cornell Law School First Amendment Clinic, filed a groundbreaking lawsuit last week against the New York City Department of Transportation, alleging that DOT systematically violates the state\u2019s Freedom of Information Law by forcing nearly everyone who seeks public records to wait six months before receiving any responsive documents. The lawsuit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cases\/1554"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cases"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cases\/1554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1559,"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cases\/1554\/revisions\/1559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}