Lawsuit targets Floral Park Village for alleged ADA violations

The metal rail of a wheelchair lift winds down the narrow stairway at the Floral Park Public Library to the basement. A few rust-colored patches on a tan paint job suggest it’s been used before, but not too much.

On March 2, Nadia Holubnyczyj-Ortiz found the lift out of order, according to allegations in a lawsuit filed in federal court earlier this month. Holubnyczyj-Ortiz had come to see New York Attorney General Leticia James, whose Instagram page described her visit to the library as "a conversation about social media’s impacts on our kids and legislation to address this pervasive issue."

Holubnyczyj-Ortiz, who uses a wheelchair, was carried downstairs by her husband and even posed for a photograph with James and others, including Legis. Carrié Solages (D-Valley Stream), that later appeared on the Instagram page.

In her lawsuit, filed Nov. 11 in U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York in Central Islip, Holubnyczyj-Ortiz alleges that severe injuries she sustained after the event were caused by a "hidden step" at the library, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. She is seeking $10 million in punitive and compensatory damages as well as class action status for alleged violations of the ADA at the library and other properties either owned or controlled by Floral Park Village, including the village hall and parks and recreation facilities. The lawsuit also seeks a court injunction to force the village to come into compliance with the ADA.

Holubnyczyj-Ortiz, who is a community advocate and consultant on issues affecting people with disabilities, filed the legal action, "on behalf of herself and all village residents with mobility disabilities who are being discriminated against and subjected to hazardous conditions due to the access barriers at public facilities, sidewalk and pedestrian rights of way in the village of Floral Park," the suit states. 

Daniel Johnston, the Syosset-based attorney representing Holubnyczyj-Ortiz, said in an interview that the village has failed to put into place a transition plan to make it more accessible overall to people with disabilities and failed to establish a liaison for the community to sort out ADA issues.

"The injury is just the ultimate inevitable outcome of 30 years of failing to follow clear federal mandates," Johnston told Newsday. "It becomes a matter of the disabled being literally shut out of their local government."

Floral Park Village administrator Gerard Bamrick, who is named as a co-defendant in the lawsuit, said in a voice message that "the village does not comment on any pending litigation. We’ll respond in detail at the appropriate time."

In an email, village attorney John Ryan declined to comment on the case.

When the March library event ended, according to the lawsuit, Holubnyczyj-Ortiz, her husband and other attendees began exiting the basement through a door to the parking lot. When the door opened to the outside, Holubnyczyj-Ortiz, back in her wheelchair, hit a "hidden step," the lawsuit alleges.

She was thrown from the wheelchair, according to the suit, and suffered multiple broken bones, facial lacerations, a dislocated shoulder and internal bleeding. Holubnyczyj-Ortiz also lost consciousness, the complaint alleges.

Her mishap was not the first at that doorstep, according to library documents included in Holubnyczyj-Ortiz's suit. A 2006 accident report to the library cited in the complaint described a woman falling on the step and receiving facial cuts that bled "profusely."

On Monday, the doorstep appeared as it does in a photograph cited in court documents, and there was nothing to alert potential users that the wheelchair lift was malfunctioning. Another photograph in the suit shows the lift with a sign attached: "OUT OF ORDER."