City Transit will payout $150G to Manhattan rider over service dog harassment

Estelle Stamm,shown here riding the #5 train in Manhattan with her service dog Wargas.Ms.Stamm, who has post traumatic stress disorder and is hearing impaired,needs the dog,a 5 yr.old Anatolian Sheperd Dog to navigate the subway and buses.In the past the N.Y. City M.T.A. has not allowed her on their buses nad trains.She mow has a lawsuit against the N.Y. City M.T.A.

Estelle Stamm riding with her beloved service dog Wargas. Stamm suffers post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and is hearing impaired.

New York City Transit is paying $150,000 to a Manhattan woman who claimed in a federal lawsuit she and her massive service dog were constantly hounded on buses and in subway stations, the Daily News has learned.

Estelle Stamm cited 32 incidents between 1998 and 2004 in which she was stopped by a bus driver, subway motorman or conductor demanding to see identification for her 120-pound livestock guardian dog Wargas.

Stamm, 70, suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder, depression and partial hearing loss, which made traveling with Wargas a necessity, according to her 2004 lawsuit filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Judge Sandra Townes handed Stamm a legal victory earlier this year, ruling that a jury could reasonably conclude that transit officials showed “deliberate indifference” by not responding to the plaintiff's repeated complaints.

Estelle Stamm was cited with 32 incidents by transit employees over her service dog.

A settlement was reached Wednesday. A spokeswoman for New York City Transit said the agency was taking no remedial action in addition to the payout.

“I am not at liberty to discuss anything about the settlement,” Stamm told The News.

Stamm sued under the Americans With Disabilities Act, which prohibits transit employees from questioning riders about their disabilities due to privacy concerns.

Her complaints were so well known Stamm was even provided with a special identification card and direct phone number to the 24-hour bus dispatch desk in case she was stopped for questioning.

Hermann, Marc, A.

The 5-year-old Anatolian Shepherd, Wargas, Estelle Stamm keeps as her service pooch.

But Stamm’s request that NYCT provide her and Wargas a private ride on an extra-long accordion-style bus to “desensitize the dog to the movement and vibration” was rejected.

Transit lawyers fought the case like cats and dogs, even questioning whether Stamm was disabled and Wargas qualified as a service dog.

Stamm's allegations, transit lawyers argued, were being turned into a big dog-and-pony show when it was simply a case of workers who mistakenly thought they were doing their job.

“Ms. Stamm’s problems arose in her dealings with nonpolicymakers, usually bus operators who raised questions, or expressed doubts or merely asked questions about the propriety of Mrs. Stamm entering a bus with a huge dog,” the agency argued.

After a driver refused to move unless Stamm and the dog got off his bus in 2000, an enraged rider shouted, “If I’m late for work, I’ll find you and kill your . . . ass!” referring to Stamm, according to court papers.

Another time a rider on a stopped bus in Manhattan the driver refused to call for police when a rider cursed at Stamm and threatened her life. Stamm pocketed $10,000 from the city in 2007 to settle a suit stemming from two cops who had issued her a ticket for bringing the miniature pony-sized dog into a subway station.

via www.nydailynews.com/new-york/transit-payout-150g-manhattan-rider-service-dog-article-1.1475981

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