Oyster Bay must pay $1.5M in laborer case legal costs, judge rules

A federal judge ordered Oyster Bay on Wednesday to pay $1.5 million in legal costs to the attorneys of groups that sued over the town's restrictions on day laborers.

U.S. District Judge Denis R. Hurley in Central Islip accepted the recommendation of U.S. Magistrate Anne Shields on payment of the legal fees and costs for Centro de la Comunidad Hispana de Locust Valley and The Workplace Project, based in Hempstead. Hurley said in his decision that a deadline had passed for any parties to object to Shields' June 18 recommendation.

In 2010, Centro de la Comunidad Hispana de Locust Valley and The Workplace Project, a nonprofit that advocates for Latino rights, sued Oyster Bay over a 2009 ordinance to prevent day laborers from gathering on the street to seek work. A federal judge struck down the ordinance in 2015, and in 2017 a federal appeals judge upheld the lower court’s decision on First Amendment grounds.

Shields noted the plaintiffs' attorneys had calculated their fees at $1.9 million but had voluntarily reduced them.

“This court finds the hours billed by plaintiffs’ counsel reasonable and recommends that plaintiffs be awarded the full amount of attorney’s fees sought,” Shields wrote in her recommendation.

Attorneys for the town argued in legal filings the plaintiffs’ attorneys had overbilled. Shields rejected that argument after a lengthy discussion of the hours and rates submitted by lawyers for Manhattan-based LatinoJustice and the New York Civil Liberties Union, which represented the day laborers.

“The decision to continue to litigate was a business decision that defendants had the right to make,” Shields wrote. “Having made that decision, they cannot now characterize this as a simple matter for which plaintiffs’ counsel over-billed.”

Court filings show the town paid $428,907 to the Central Islip firm Sinnreich Kosakoff & Messina, LLP to defend it in the case. The town also hired Garden City-based Kendric Law Group P.C. to represent it in the case.

Alan Levine, an attorney with LatinoJustice who worked on the case, said the award of lawyers’ fees on civil rights litigation “encourages lawyers to take on these cases.”

“We weren’t suing for money, we were suing to invalidate an unconstitutional statute,” Levine said.

The ruling striking down the day laborer ordinance was “terribly important … for people who have to make a living seeking work on the streets," Levine said. "This case gave them that ability to survive.”

Town outside counsel Christopher Kendric referred questions to the town. Oyster Bay spokeswoman Marta Kane did not address the magistrate's recommendation, but in a statement said the rulings were "a poor decision by the courts as individuals loitering in residential neighborhoods can only lead to safety concerns. The Town is exploring all options to protect the quality of life in our communities.”