Judge tosses Ramapough Chief Dwaine Perry's parking lot closure lawsuit against Hillburn
HILLBURN - Ramapough Nation Chief Dwaine Perry lost his family parking spot on village property when a judge dismissed his discrimination lawsuit, in which he accused officials of retaliation for his opposition to a private school.
State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Zugibe tossed Perry's lawsuit on the legal grounds he and his attorney didn't inform the village of his intention to take legal action. A notice of claim to municipalities is required prior to filing a legal action.
Perry's attorney, Susan Shapiro, filed the legal action against Mayor Joseph Tursi, Building and Fire Inspector Adam Gordon, and Assistant Building Inspector Lawrence McMannis. Village Attorney Terry Rice denied the accusations and defended the village officials.
Hillburn: Ramapough Nation Chief accuses village officials of retaliation in a lawsuit
Shapiro as of Tuesday was discussing with Perry whether he would appeal Zugibe to the state Appellate Division.
While the lack of a notice forged the basis for the dismissal, Zugibe found Perry also failed to make a sufficient case that harsh rhetoric exchanged with village officials rose to the level of retaliation and hostility against Native Americans and people with physical disabilities.
Perry, a member of the Rockland Civil Rights Hall of Fame, is the elected chief of the Ramapough Munsee Lunaape Nation. He's also a disabled Vietnam War veteran
Zugibe, in his 15-page decision released Sept. 30, also found Perry failed to show why the village's ownership of the vacant lot should prohibit the government from banning parking.
Zugibe noted he dismissed the lawsuit based on the law, despite Tursi being accused of making comments considered retaliatory and Perry's public hearing remarks being construed as antisemitic and bigoted regarding a zone change for an Orthodox Jewish school.
Zugibe decided Perry "does not demonstrate respondent hostility to Native Americans or Ramapough in particular or show that any hostility affected village treatment of its own property.
"In any event, the outcome of this proceeding does not constitute a finding that village treatment of a vacant lot did or did not reflect animus or retaliation," Zugibe wrote.
Perry claims retaliation
In his lawsuit, Perry claimed his opposition to zoning updates led Tursi to retaliate. Perry claims he and others have been parking in the lot across from his family's Boulder Avenue house for generations.
Perry's lawsuit states he became the target of the "frivolous abuse of power by village officials to engage in a conspiracy to intimate, harass and retaliate against Chief Perry for expressing his opinions and concerns at a public hearing in violation of Petitioners constitutionally protected rights."
He wanted the village to pay his legal expenses and sanction officials.
Hillburn, a village incorporated in 1893 of just more than 1,000 residents tucked between the Ramapo Mountains and Ramapo River on the New Jersey border, has owned the five-acre vacant parcel since 1937. The village claims residents were permitted to use the property for personal parking.
The village cited Perry for parking with threats of thousands of dollars in fines before posting no-parking signs on March 3, according to Perry's legal action. McMannis had issued a violation notice on Feb. 28 and the village threatened to remove Perry's truck and trailer, and fine him up to $250 a day if he continued parking.
Shapiro argued in court papers the order was "jurisdictionally defective and unlawful, as no such violation exists" in the village code. She said the no-parking signs were "installed without due process or resolution by village trustees."
The village denied targeting Perry in retaliation and claimed he's long desired to buy the vacant lot from the village, asserting he has intimidated residents from parking on the site. When Perry and other residents couldn't reach an accommodation, the village put up the no-parking signs, according to the village's response.
Steve Lieberman covers government, breaking news, courts, police, and investigations. Reach him at slieberm@lohud.com.
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This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Ramapough Chief Dwaine Perry's lawsuit against Hillburn tossed
