A lead plaintiff in a high-stakes, handicapped-rights lawsuit against the city has agreed to drop her claims — two days after being named the new commissioner of the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities.
Lawyers for Christina Curry filed legal papers in Manhattan federal court Thursday saying she’s “dismissing individual claims without prejudice” against the city in a class-action suit that already led to a judge last December mandating all Big Apple crossing signals be accessible to the blind and visually impaired by 2036.
Two days earlier, Mayor Eric Adams announced the longtime Harlem-based disability-rights advocate’s appointment to his administration in a press release – but failed to mention the ongoing litigation against the city.
It’s unclear what Curry’s earnings will be, but Victor Calise had a base salary of $227,786 annually while holding the same title last year under then-Mayor Bill de Blasio.
In a “stipulation of voluntary dismissal,” Curry’s lawyers note she “will be joining Defendant City of New York as its Commissioner for the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities.”
However, they also note her decision won’t affect claims of the other plaintiffs in the class-action suit – “nor does it affect Ms. Curry’s eligibility as a class member” in the suit.
Messages left with mayor’s office and Curry’s lawyers asking whether there’s a potential conflict and about the timing of her appointment were not immediately returned Saturday.
Prior to her appointment, Curry had served the past 21 years as executive director of the Harlem Independent Living Center where she helped provide disability sensitivity training to local hospitals and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
In the 2018 lawsuit slapped against the city by American Council of the Blind, Curry is described as a plaintiff who is “deaf and is legally blind.“
“She uses a forearm crutch as a mobility aid,” the suit said. “She lives in the Bronx. She works at an office based in Harlem, and her work takes her to all five boroughs of New York City. She is a pedestrian in all five boroughs.”
Prior to Manhattan federal Judge Paul Engelmayer’s ruling, only roughly 950 of the city’s 13,430 signalized intersections were equipped with Accessible Pedestrian Signals, which communicate crossing signals via voice commands or audible tones, according to the judge’s order. Engelmayer also tapped a court-appointed monitor at the city’s expense to ensure the Department of Transportation meets its mandates.
The city had contended it needed 30 years to comply with the American with Disabilities Act, but the judge called his 2036 timeline “attainable,” and “respectful” of the city’s resources and budget.
When announcing Curry’s appointment Tuesday, Adams said she “has the skills and the lived experience to continue and expand on the progress made and ensure that the rights and needs of people living with disabilities are included in all that New York City has to offer.”
Curry said in a same press release that she looks “forward to working with the many organizations representing the diverse disability/Deaf communities, but more importantly, with those who are not currently receiving support from any federal, state, city or non-governmental provider, as they are most often overlooked and forgotten.”