Case: Gomez-Garcia v. New York City Police Dep't

451000-2012 | New York state trial court

Filed Date: June 22, 2012

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Case Summary

This case is about arrests for marijuana possession in New York City. On June 22, 2012, a group of individuals who had been arrested for possession of marijuana "open to public view" despite not having any visible filed this lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court for the County of New York. The plaintiffs sued New York City and its police department (the NYPD) under state law. Represented by the Legal Aid Society and private counsel, the plaintiffs sought declaratory and injunctive relief. They …

This case is about arrests for marijuana possession in New York City. On June 22, 2012, a group of individuals who had been arrested for possession of marijuana "open to public view" despite not having any visible filed this lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court for the County of New York. The plaintiffs sued New York City and its police department (the NYPD) under state law. Represented by the Legal Aid Society and private counsel, the plaintiffs sought declaratory and injunctive relief. They claimed that the NYPD had violated state law, which mandated that police issue a ticket rather than arrest individuals for possession of marijuana.

The Marihuana Reform Act of 1977 had sought to reduce penalties for the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Instead of arresting people with marijuana, the Reform Act created a provision for police to issue an appearance ticket. The appearance ticket was like a traffic ticket, requiring that a defendant appear in court on some future date rather than undergo the full arrest process, which included an immediate detention period of at least 24 hours. Before the passage of the law, there were around 25,000 marijuana arrests each year. By the early 1990s, that number had dropped to under 1,000. However, in the early 2010s, there were over 50,000 such arrests each year. On September 19, 2011, the Police Commissioner had issued an operation order acknowledging the violation of state law and ordering police to comply.

As of September 4, 2021, the New York State Courts Electronic Filing system shows no other developments in this case. Its status is listed as "Pre-RJI," meaning no Request for Judicial Intervention has been filed, which is used to get a judge assigned to the case. The case is probably closed.

Summary Authors

Lauren Yu (9/4/2021)

People


Judge(s)

O'Brien, Thomas (New York)

Attorney for Plaintiff

Banks, Steven (New York)

Chang, Jonathan K (California)

Gibney, William D. (New York)

Katz, Sharon (New York)

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Documents in the Clearinghouse

Document

451000-2012

Docket

Gomez-Garcia v. New York City Police Department

June 22, 2012

June 22, 2012

Docket

451000-2012

Verified Complaint

New York state supreme court

June 21, 2012

June 21, 2012

Complaint

2012 WL 2012

Docket

Last updated Jan. 31, 2024, 5:19 p.m.

ECF Number Description Date Link Date / Link
1

SUMMONS Summons

June 22, 2012

June 22, 2012

2

COMPLAINT Verified Complaint

June 22, 2012

June 22, 2012

3

NO FEE AUTHORIZATION (LETTER/ORDER/AFFIRMATION) No Fee Letter

June 22, 2012

June 22, 2012

4

AFFIRMATION/AFFIDAVIT OF SERVICE Affidavit of Service

June 22, 2012

June 22, 2012

Case Details

State / Territory: New York

Case Type(s):

Policing

Key Dates

Filing Date: June 22, 2012

Case Ongoing: No reason to think so

Plaintiffs

Plaintiff Description:

The plaintiffs are several individuals who were subjected to full arrest processes by the NYPD for the possession of small quantities of marijuana, despite state law mandating that these individuals merely be issued a ticket.

Plaintiff Type(s):

Private Plaintiff

Attorney Organizations:

Legal Services/Legal Aid

Public Interest Lawyer: Yes

Filed Pro Se: No

Class Action Sought: No

Class Action Outcome: Not sought

Defendants

City of New York (New York, New York), City

New York City Police Department (New York, New York), City

Defendant Type(s):

Law-enforcement

Case Details

Causes of Action:

State law

Available Documents:

Complaint (any)

Outcome

Prevailing Party: None Yet / None

Nature of Relief:

None

Source of Relief:

None yet

Issues

General:

Failure to train

Over/Unlawful Detention

Pattern or Practice

Search policies

Policing:

False arrest