On June 13, 1984, ten residents of the Letchworth Village Development Center (LVDC) in Thiells, New York, along with a parents/representatives organization called Rights, Equality Always at Letchworth, Inc. (REAL), filed a class action lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the State of New York in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The plaintiffs asked the court for declaratory and injunctive relief, alleging that their constitutional rights had been violated by the defendants' failure to provide plaintiffs with constitutionally and statutorily mandated levels of care, habilitation, training, education, and treatment, as well as maintaining the plaintiffs in a setting where such services cannot properly be provided.

On September 3, 1985, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (Judge Charles E. Stewart) dismissed REAL as a party to the lawsuit for lack of standing and certified the plaintiffs as a class. Rights Equality Always at Letchworth v. Cuomo, No. 84-4163, 1985 WL 129 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 3, 1985). On November 14, 1985, the district court (Judge Stewart) appointed REAL guardian ad litem to assist the plaintiffs in representing the interests of absent class members.

On November 25, 1986, the defendants asked the court to dismiss the case for lack of standing of the remaining plaintiffs. On October 14, 1986, the district court denied the motion for dismissal.

On November 14, 1988, the parties entered into a settlement agreement, which was adopted by the court on November 19, 1991. On March 3, 1993, the district court ordered the defendants to provide the plaintiffs with a comprehensive implementation plan for the closure of LVDC. The closure was to take place by March 31, 1996, and the plan was to specify the number of community placements to be made out of LVDC. This is where our docket information, accurate as of 4/18/07, ends.

Kristen Sagar - 04/18/2007


compress summary