504 Democratic Club: Questionnaires (Candidate for Judge Gerald Lebovits' 2010 response)

Candidate Name: Gerald Lebovits (I am a candidate for Civil Court judge in Manhattan's Ninth Judicial District.)

Contact Person: Jerry Skurnik

If there is a Campaign office, is it wheelchair accessible? Not applicable.

Email: primeny711@aol.com

Endorsements: (Political, Community & Labor; as of June 2, 2010) Individuals: Congress Member Carolyn Maloney; Assembly Members Jonathan Bing and Micah Kellner; Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer; District Leaders Keen Berger, Meryl Brodsky, Louise Dankberg, Mary Dorman, Brad Hoylman, Jimmy McManus, John Mills, Lawrence Rosenstock, Arthur Schiff, Tom Schuler, and Steven Smollens; and State Committee Members Doris Corrigan and Trudy L. Mason. Chelsea Reform Democratic Club; Lexington Democratic Club; McManus Democratic Club; Village Independent Democrats; and Village Reform Democratic Club.

I have been found "Most Highly Qualified" for Civil Court judge by five Independent Judicial Screening Panels.

Please describe any experience with disability you have had in your life or career.

As a Housing Court judge for more than eight years (I also serve as the President of the Association of Housing Court Judges), I hear cases nearly every day involving physically or emotionally disabled individuals.

These cases have led me to devote much of my time inside and outside the courtroom to protecting the rights of the disabled and to assure equal access to justice.

I have written many opinions in which I have safeguarded - and enhanced - the rights of the disabled. In one leading case, 1234 Broadway LLC v. Feng Chai Lin, 25 Misc. 3d 476, 883 N.Y.S.2d 864 (Civ. Ct. N.Y. County 2009) (available here: http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2009/2009_29304.htm), I ruled that a guardian ad litem may not surrender a disabled ward's property rights against the ward's wishes. This decision was featured in a front-page story in the New York Law Journal (July 21, 2009, at 1, col. 3) and discussed in many places, including the American Bar Association's Mental and Physical Disability Law Reporter (vol. 33, page 744; Sept.-Oct. 2009). I wrote in Lin that guardians ad litem must assist their wards but that they may not take over their lives - that the disabled must have the self-determination to decide their rights for themselves.

I have also written or co-written articles in which I discuss how judges, lawyers, and others can assure the rights of the disabled and how the disabled can defend themselves. These articles include:
- Kevin M. Cremin & Gerald Lebovits, Accommodations and Modifications in the New York City Housing Court for Litigants with Disabilities, New York Real Property Law Journal (Fall 2010) (forthcoming), available at http://works.bepress.com/gerald_lebovits/181/.
- Gerald Lebovits, Matthias W. Li & Shani R. Friedman, Guardians Ad Litem in Housing Court, 37 New York Real Property Law Journal 48 (Winter 2009), available at http://works.bepress.com/gerald_lebovits/146/.
- Gerald Lebovits & Michael V. Gervasi, Guardians and Guardians Ad Litem in New York, 8 Richmond County Bar Association Journal 7 (2009), available at http://works.bepress.com/gerald_lebovits/167/.
- Gerald Lebovits, Learning Disabilities and the Legal Writer, 77 New York State Bar Journal 64 (Sept. 2005), available at http://works.bepress.com/gerald_lebovits/20/.
I have taught law part time for 25 years. Currently I am an Adjunct Professor of Law at Columbia Law School and at St. John's University School of law. I also lecture to judges and lawyers at continuing judicial and legal education programs. In particular, I lecture to judges and lawyers on the rights of the disabled. In late 2009 and early 2010, I gave three lectures on disability rights:
- I lectured at the New York State Judicial Institute in White Plains, New York, to the Supreme Court guardianship judges in the First and Second Departments (including New York City, Long Island, and Westchester) on the law of guardians and guardians ad litem for wards and the allegedly incapacitated in Housing Court, Civil Court, Supreme Court, and Surrogate's Court.
- I was a panelist at an MFY Legal Services symposium in Manhattan entitled "Representing People with Mental Illness: Partnerships, Perceptions and Perspectives on Guardians ad Litem."
- I lectured at the Bronx County Bar Association on the following topic: "New York Rule of Professional Conduct 1.14: Representing Clients with Diminished Capacity."
How will you incorporate people with disabilities into your campaign?

Several individuals with disabilities are already working with me on my campaign. I will do my utmost to continue to invite and incorporate people with disabilities to work with me. From my publications (above) as well as my campaign, people with disabilities know that I encourage them to join and participate.
If you are in private practice, is your office accessible to people with disabilities? If not, what have you done to ensure access?

I am not in private practice. I am a Housing Court judge in Manhattan and teach law part time. I am a former Legal Aid attorney and court attorney in Supreme Court, both in Manhattan.
Is the courthouse in which you work accessible to people with all kinds of disabilities?

My courthouse at 111 Centre Street in Manhattan is not accessible to people with all kinds of disabilities. But consistent with my article (above), Accommodations and Modifications in the New York City Housing Court for Litigants with Disabilities, New York Real Property Law Journal (Fall 2010) (forthcoming), available at http://works.bepress.com/gerald_lebovits/181/, in which I suggest ways for the court system to improve, I will continue to advocate for accommodations.
Has a person with a disability appeared before your court as a juror or litigant? If so, please indicate what, if any, challenges arose? And how were they handled?

People with disabilities appear before me nearly every day. I do everything possible to be sensitive to their rights and their needs. While still on the record and holding a recording microphone, I get off the bench and go to the rail if it helps those in wheelchairs. I order sign interpreters for the hard-of-hearing and others who will assist the blind and those with low vision. I appoint guardians ad litem whenever appropriate and then make certain that the guardians act both as officers of the court and defend their wards. The ways in which I devote myself and my courtroom staff to disabled litigants is nearly limitless.
Do you believe that a person who is deaf / hard of hearing or one who is blind/or has low vision can serve as a juror? Why or why not?

A person who is deaf or hard of hearing or blind or has low vision can serve as a juror. I will accommodate jurors by having an interpreter or service animal by their side and will provide any other accommodation they might need. Those who are disabled should not be exempt from serving as jurors, if they want to serve.
Are you willing to hire either on a job share or full time basis, a qualified law clerk/secretary with a disability?

I would absolutely be willing to hire a law clerk or secretary with a disability either on a job share or on a full-time basis. I emphatically reject the absurd and immoral suggestion that an individual with a disability is unqualified. Discrimination in hiring is not only illegal - something a judge may never tolerate - but uninformed.
How will you work within the court structure to assure the accessibility of all facilities of the courts? For example, will you participate in the Committee for People with Disabilities, relevant training opportunities?

As my judicial opinions, articles, and lectures (above) show, I will participate in all these programs, and I have already done so.
How would you act when the family of a person with physical or cognitive disabilities attempts to control their assets?

I take this matter seriously. Sometimes the law will authorize the family member to control the ward's or the allegedly incapacitated person's assets. That is true in the case of a family member whom the court, upon due process, appoints to serve as an Article 81 or Surrogate's Court guardian of the person or property or both. Sometimes, also, the family member has a valid power of attorney.

But sometimes the family member does not have the right - and should not have the right - to control assets. The court must be vigilant to make certain that the family member has only the ward's or allegedly incapacitated person's best interests at heart - that the family member is not trying to steal assets or engage in mental or physical abuse.

There are ways the court can tell whether the family member is honest or dishonest. That process of adjudication begins with appointing neutral guardians and guardians ad litem to assure that the allegedly disabled is not being taken advantage of. The process continues with the court's obligation independently to speak to the disabled to assure itself that no impropriety is being or might be committed. For this very reason, I have never and will never appoint a family member to serve as a guardian ad litem in Housing Court. I am always skeptical when family members appear in court without the allegedly disabled litigant or when the family member tries to prevent the allegedly disabled litigant from speaking to me in court directly.

When I have cause and evidence to suspect things like elder abuse or domestic violence, I report the matter to the proper authorities, including Adult Protective Services and law enforcement. No judge can be passive in the face of illegality and simply let the abuse continue or allow someone's rights to be violated.

Date: June 3, 2010

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