FOIL REQUEST FOR TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS BUREAU (TVB) RECORDS RELEVANT TO A TRAFFIC ACCIDENT SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED (FIRST DEPT).
The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined petitioner’s FOIL request for the records relevant to a traffic accident from the Traffic Violations Bureau (TVB) should have been granted:
The only FOIL exemption at issue in this case applies to records that “are compiled for law enforcement purposes and which, if disclosed, would . . . interfere with . . . judicial proceedings” (Public Officers Law § 87[2][e][i]).
… [W]e find that Traffic Violations Bureau (TVB) hearings are “judicial proceedings” … . The TVB of the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, an administrative agency that was legislatively created to adjudicate traffic violation charges for the purpose of reducing caseloads of courts in New York City … . At a TVB hearing, the accused motorist has a right to be represented by counsel … and the administrative law judge presiding over the hearing must determine whether the police officer has established the charges by clear and convincing evidence … . Although the CPL and the CPLR are generally “not binding on” TVB … , it has been held that the motorist “is entitled to the issuance of a properly worded judicial subpoena duces tecum under CPLR 2307 requiring the production of relevant records” … .
… NYPD asserts that any release of documents would somehow tip the hand of the TVB’s prosecuting attorney or prevent the prosecutor from testing the recollection of witnesses. Yet, NYPD concedes that these documents would be released to the motorist who would not be under any legal admonition not to release the documents to others. Matter of Jewish Press, Inc. v New York City Police Dept., 2021 NY Slip Op 00119, First Dept 1-12-21
