News & Press

NYCHA Tenants Sue to Get Safe Wheelchair Ramp

Three tenants represented by MFY Legal Services, Inc. filed suit today against the New York City Housing Authority for failing to correct an access ramp that is too dangerous for people using wheelchairs, rendering the entrance inaccessible to them. The suit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief as well as compensatory and punitive damages under the …

Carolyn E. Coffey to Receive NYCLA Public Service Award

Carolyn E. Coffey, supervising attorney of MFY’s Consumer Rights Project, will receive the New York County Lawyers’ Association’s Public Service Award at a ceremony on September 12, 2012.  Ms. Coffey has played a leading role in winning greater protections for New Yorkers against improper debt collection practices and led the effort to tighten regulations on …

Judge Allows ADA Suit Against NYCHA to Proceed

A federal judge has ruled that a suit brought against the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) by a Staten Island resident who is blind may proceed. The plaintiff is arguing that by refusing to accommodate his disability, and by providing him repeatedly with written notices that he is unable to read, NYCHA is violating …

Home Care Workers Win $1 Million in Class Action Settlement

As many as one thousand women who care for New York’s elderly and infirm will share a $1,090,000 settlement in a groundbreaking class action lawsuit against McMillan’s Home Care Agency. This is the first case in New York State to reach class settlement for home care workers, in an industry rife with wage-and-hour violations. Home …

Ropes & Gray Joins MFY’s Externship Program

MFY Legal Services expanded its externship program with an associate from the law firm of  Ropes & Gray LLP, who began work on July 9, 2012. Working closely with experienced MFY attorneys, the extern will carry a full caseload, providing advice, counsel and representation in housing court and before administrative agencies. Ropes & Gray Joins …

WBAI Interviews MFY on Foreclosure “Shadow Docket”

WBAI, a New York City public radio station, interviewed MFY Deputy Director Elise Brown and foreclosure Senior Staff Attorney Adam Cohen on “Talk Back,” on June 12, 2012, about MFY’s recently released report, Justice Unsettled, which describes the devastating impact of the “shadow docket” on the state’s distressed homeowners. Click here for a link to …

MFY Urges State to Amend Law to Help Kinship Caregivers

MFY Legal Services’ Kinship Caregiver Law Project is working with child welfare advocates across the state to urge the state legislature to amend Domestic Relations Law 72 to give relative caregivers (e.g. aunts, uncles, older siblings, etc.) the same rights as grandparents when seeking legal guardianship or custody of a related child who has been …

“Justice Unsettled:” MFY’s New Report Urges Action to Save Thousands of Homes in Foreclosure

Justice Unsettled: How the Foreclosure Shadow Docket and Discontinuances Prevent New Yorkers from Saving Their Homes re-examines foreclosure filings studied previously to find that the shadow docket continues to grow, and that thousands of homeowners in foreclosure cannot gain access to settlement conferences that can lead to affordable loan modifications. Thousands of New York Homeowners …

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