By COLIN MOYNIHAN
Published: April 9, 2013
As myriad court battles pitting the Occupy Wall Street movement against New York City agencies proceed, protesters claimed a victory on Tuesday, based not on how they were treated, but on how their books were mistreated.
The City of New York and Brookfield Properties agreed to pay more than $230,000 to settle a lawsuit filed last year in Federal District Court asserting that books and other property had been damaged or destroyed when the police and sanitation workers cleared an encampment from Zuccotti Park in 2011.
The books, and other items, had been set up in the northeast corner of the park soon after the Occupy protests began in September 2011. Called the People’s Library, the collection included novels and history books.
About 3,600 volumes were removed when the city cleared the park. A suit filed by protesters in February 2012 said only about 1,000 could be recovered.
The settlement called for the city to pay $47,000 to the movement’s Library Working Group for the loss of the books and $186,000 in legal fees. About $16,000 will come from Brookfield Properties, the owner of the park.
Last year, lawyers for the city said Brookfield had hired a private carting company to help remove items from the park and take them to a landfill.
Lawyers for Brookfield replied that the police had directed the company to hire workers to clear “refuse” from the park and that Brookfield employees had helped city workers load material.
“There are many reasons to settle a case,” said Sheryl Neufeld of the New York City Law Department. “And sometimes that includes avoiding the potential for drawn out litigation that bolsters plaintiff attorney fees.” Brookfield declined to comment.
“In our opinion people’s constitutional rights were violated,” said Norman Siegel, a lawyer for the protesters. “And our settlement holds the city accountable.”
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