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QUEENS WEEKLY, JUNE 30, 2019
Pop-up court lets Flushing
residents fi ght summonses
BY JACOB KAYE
Rory McAllister walked
into the basement of the
Flushing Library last
week and was greeted by
two people who asked him
to take a seat. Patrons of
the library checked out
books on the floor above
but McAllister wasn’t there
for literature.
He was there for court.
McAllister was one
of the first respondents
to defend a summons
in front of the Office of
Trials and Administrative
Hearings’ pop-up court
in the Flushing Branch
of the Queens Library
on June 20. The one-day
court was created to make
responding to low-level
summonses — like putting
trash out on the wrong day
or obstructing the sidewalk
— easier, more convenient
and, in some ways,
more enjoyable.
Inside the makeshift
courtroom, the judge
asked McAllister if he
would swear to tell the
truth while defending a
summons he received from
the sanitation department
a few weeks earlier. With
a serious look, he swore
he would.
The judge looked up
and smiled.
“I don’t do it formally,”
the judge said. “It’s a
medieval practice.”
This is no ordinary judge
and this is no ordinary
court room.
“We love the idea of
bringing court to people,”
said John Castelli,
deputy commissioner
at OATH. “It’s been a
tremendous success.”
The Flushing pop-up
court heard 14 cases and
resolved 16 summonses
by the end of its
seven-hour run.
Responding to a
summons in pop-up
court isn’t very different
procedurally than
responding to one at an
OATH office. Respondents
check in, wait, meet with
a hearing officer, defend
their case, leave and receive
a decision by mail within
Hearing Officer Bradley Lamel listens to a respondent argue
a summons in a pop-up court in Flushing on June 20, 2019.
30 days.
What is different,
however, is everything else.
Respondents get more oneon
one attention, a more
relaxed environment and
less time taken away from
their day and their work,
Castelli said. They also get
a free tote bag, decorated
with OATH’s logo.
McAllister lives in
Flushing and said that it
didn’t take him very long
to get to the library. After
arriving, he only waited
several minutes before
seeing the hearing officer,
Bradley Lamel. He sat down
with Lamel at 9:26 a.m.
McAllister explained to
Lamel that the only reason
he put out his trash an hour
before the law allows was
because he was on his way
to see a dying friend. He
wasn’t sure how late he’d
get back home and wanted
to make sure the trash was
picked up the next day.
McAllister was a retired
sanitation worker himself.
He wasn’t trying to cause
anyone any problems.
Lamel listened, asked
a few follow up questions,
offered his condolences
and thanked McAllister
for telling his story and for
coming in.
McAllister was out the
door and done with his
hearing at 9:31, a whole five
minutes later.
“That was speedy,”
Photo: Jacob Kaye/QNS
McAllister said, free tote
bag in hand.
Statistically, it’s likely
that McAllister’s summons
gets dismissed. According
to OATH, around 50
percent of respondents end
up not having to pay the
fine originally imposed on
them. But if a respondent
doesn’t show up to argue
their summons, fines will
increase and will have to
be paid.
By bringing the court
to the respondents and
putting them in less
intimidating spaces,
OATH is helping to ensure
that people show up, they
say.
Castelli and Marisa
Senigo, also a deputy
commissioner at OATH,
created the pop-up courts
for one purpose.
“We have one goal:
to ensure due process,”
Castelli said
The first neighborhood
pop-up court was held in
the Bronx in April 2018.
Since then, 15 have been
held across the city, three
of which were held in
Queens. Last week’s court
was the first to appear in
the Flushing area.
“Please continue them,”
said Sol Concepcion, a
respondent from Elmhurst.
“It was super easy.”
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