The New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH) issued a summons against me.
- Where can I find OATH's decisions?
- Where can I find OATH's regulations?
- Where can I find guidance on an OATH hearing?
Answer
From the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH) homepage:
The Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH) is New York City’s central, independent administrative law court. OATH has three divisions that are responsible for adjudicating City matters: the OATH Trials Division, the OATH Hearings Division, and the OATH Special Education Hearings Division.
The OATH Trials Division adjudicates a wide range of issues that can be referred by any City agency, board or commission. Its caseload includes employee discipline and disability hearings for civil servants, Conflicts of Interest Board cases, proceedings related to the retention of seized vehicles by the police, City-issued license and regulatory enforcement, real estate, zoning and loft law violations, City contract disputes and human rights violations under the City Human Rights Law. OATH Trials are conducted by Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) who are appointed to five-year terms.
In the OATH Hearings Division, hearings are conducted on summonses issued by 25 different City enforcement agencies for alleged violations of law or City rules. These summonses are issued by the Departments of Buildings, Sanitation, Environmental Protection, Consumer and Worker Protection, Health and Mental Hygiene and the Taxi and Limousine Commission, among others. OATH hearings are conducted by Hearing Officers. The OATH Help Center assists self-represented litigants to understand the law, the hearing process and other processes to correctly respond and resolve summonses.
The OATH Special Education Hearings Division adjudicates disputes about special education services provided to New York City children.
The New York Law School's Center for New York City Law provides a free and easily searched database of recent OATH decisions. Public access law libraries provide free access to OATH decisions back to 1992 through Lexis.
The regulatory areas covered by OATH include:
- Air Rights
- Building Code Violations
- City Labor Disputes
- Criminal and Civil Forfeiture
- Employment Discrimination
- Human Rights
- Landmarks and Historic Preservation
- Loft Law