Paul, Weiss Files Landmark Fourth Amendment Class Action Against New York City Over Unlawful Searches by Children’s Services Administration

Paul, Weiss and co-counsel filed a class action lawsuit against the City of New York for violating the Fourth Amendment during the tens of thousands of home searches the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) conducts every year. Co-counsel include the Family Justice Law Center of the Urban Justice Center, the NYU School of Law Family Defense Clinic and Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP.

As reported in The New York Times, the lawsuit, filed in the Eastern District of New York, was brought on behalf of nine named plaintiffs who represent the countless (disproportionately Black and Hispanic) parents and caretakers whose constitutional rights are repeatedly violated when ACS employs coercive tactics to conduct invasive, warrantless home searches and strip searches of their children. These tactics include lying to parents about their rights, threatening to call the police, and even threatening to take the parents’ children away if the ACS caseworkers are not permitted to enter and search the home. In over 99.5% of cases, ACS conducts these home searches without a court order, even though only a minuscule percentage of ACS investigations result in determinations that the children need protection. The lawsuit aims to curb ACS’ unconstitutional practice and to protect tens of thousands of New York City families from these unlawful and traumatic searches in the future.

The Paul, Weiss team is led by partners Audra Soloway and Erin Morgan and includes associates Daniel Negless, Sera Idoko and Nylah Mustafa.