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Arrogant town of oyster bay code enforcement agent

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codejoke

Junior Member
Hello if a town of oyster bay new york code enforcement agent responds to your residence as a direct result of a written complaint, and then issues a summons resulting from that complaint, does that written complaint in its entierty including the authors information, then become discovery material when you respond at trial? Thanks
 
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quincy

Senior Member
codejoke, please remove the links to your Facebook page and YouTube before the moderators remove it for you. Then try to summarize what your complaint with the code enforcement agent is, without mentioning names.

Thanks.

Oh. Also refrain if you can from using all capital letters - it is hard on the eyes. ;)
 

codejoke

Junior Member
thanks for the heads up. i'm new to the forum. a town of ostyer bay code enforcement agent showed up at my residence on an alledged written complaint, filed with the town by a person unknown to me. the agent refused to show me any complaint at all with or without complainants name ommitted. he then issued a notice of violation for multiple violations he claimed were on the original written complaint made to the town. now if i allow him to issue me summon's and proceed to trial, will that complaint be discovery material?
 

justalayman

Senior Member
now if i allow him to issue me summon's and proceed to trial, will that complaint be discovery material?
maybe but without it, what evidence do they have of any violations or even any claim of violations?

Remember, they have to prove the violation, not the other way around.
 

quincy

Senior Member
Thanks, codejoke, and welcome to the forum. :)

You can certainly request the complaint as part of discovery, but it may be subject to a claim of privilege.

Most complaints are for investigative purposes only and a qualified privilege attaches to them. The reason for this privilege is so that those who report violations to authorities are not at risk of being sued over what they report. Nothing that is reported in a complaint is considered true or false until an investigation indicates it is true or false.

This qualified privilege can be defeated with a showing that the original complaint was filed with actual malice (with a knowledge that what was being reported was false and there was an intent to harm), but determining who filed the complaint can often be a challenge.

I am not sure the original complaint will be of much benefit to you in a trial anyway, codejoke, if the complaint was investigated and it was discovered through this investigation that you were in violation of a code ordinance.
 
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HighwayMan

Super Secret Senior Member
I am guess that town code hearings are administrative in nature and discovery does not apply.

Just curious what they are citing you for violating strictly based on a third party complaint?
 

justalayman

Senior Member
I am guess that town code hearings are administrative in nature and discovery does not apply.

Just curious what they are citing you for violating strictly based on a third party complaint?

You missed it. OP got a bit rude and totally lacking in appreciation but edited all that out of their last post. OP felt they deserved a complete and 100% accurate answer and was a bit miffed they didn't get that and colorfully stated so.
 

codejoke

Junior Member
listen i asked a question and what i got back were instructions on how to post on my forum and advice on what lettering to use and then a maybe answer. when i realized that the gentleman wasn't finnished i retracted my remark and apologized. get off your high hoss senior member
 
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justalayman

Senior Member
listen i asked a question and what i got back were instructions on how to post on my forum and advice on what lettering to use and then a maybe answer. when i realized that the gentleman wasn't finnished i retracted my remark and apologized. get off your high hoss senior member
sorry. I saw what you posted not realizing you were being a jerk because you thought you didn't get what you wanted. Now you are being a jerk because apparently that is your typical attitude. Sorry for thinking you were being a jerk only because you thought you did not receive a complete answer.
 

CdwJava

Senior Member
As mentioned, there is no requirement they show you the initial complaint during the investigation. If the matter goes to trial then you will have the opportunity to seek any evidence in the matter via discovery.

However, the initial complaint is of little relevance if the code enforcement folks responded and independently identified the violations through their own observations and investigation. Anyone can call to say you have violated a local ordinance and direct the city's attention to you. That complaint may be entirely irrelevant with regards to the evidence of guilt they might have against you.

If they issued the citation/summons SOLELY based on the written complaint, then the complaining party and his or her statement becomes the basis of the prosecution.
 

CdwJava

Senior Member
Reading about your problem (assuming I found the correct problem), I notice that the offenses you were issued a summons for seem to be matters that can be readily observed and verified. You had a fence that was too tall, had a deck constructed without a permit, and an un-permitted or unlawful driveway extension. If that's the case, the nature of the initial complaining party may be entirely irrelevant and not available via discovery. Apparently you also have a boat and trailer that he asked you to move but did not cite you for.

So, what is your complaint? Are you complaining that you did not get cited for everything you might have been? Are you complaining about the employee's attitude? if you do not like his attitude, file a complaint with his employer. If you believe the ordinances are somehow unlawful or are being applied in an unlawful manner, gather your pennies, hire an attorney and be ready to spend thousands of dollars to fight city hall.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
WOW. Everybody needs to watch the video referred to.






Easy fix: if you have code violations; cure them. If you don't; contest the citation in court and prove the citations improper.
 
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