In 2011, we commenced litigation against the Village of Sea Cliff based on the view that portions of the Village code were unconstitutional. Following an incident with Andrew “Drew” Lawrence the Building Superintendent of the Village, our review found serious Constitutional issues contained in the Village laws. Furthermore, in both written and verbal statements, the Building Superintendent pledged to enforce these questionable laws.

We felt the constitutionally protected Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights of Villagers were being violated. In fact, Lawrence stated verbally and in writing that he had the right to search any home or property without a duly authorized search warrant. We disagreed.

We gave the Village several warnings that the Village laws were seriously flawed, and the issue justified the immediate attention of the Mayor and Board of Trustees. The Village ignored our repeated warnings. Hence in order to change the law we had no choice but to commenced a lawsuit in the New York State Supreme Court against the Village.

Mayor Kennedy defended Drew Lawrence, and further stated “We have no laws on the books that are unconstitutional. The Village submits that this is a frivolous lawsuit that does nothing more than cost the taxpayers money and drains time from our staff from being of maximum service to all our residents. I am confident that our Village will be triumphant. ” In a statement to Newsday reporter Carl McGowen, Mayor Kennedy again deemed the lawsuit “frivolous.”

On July 19 2012, the Honorable Steven M. Jaeger of the NYS Supreme Court agreed with us. In his ten page decision on a motion for partial summary judgement, he struck down Section 48-7 of the Sea Cliff Village Code as unconstitutional. Judge Jaeger stated ” Based on the foregoing, the plaintiff is entitled to partial summary judgement declaring that Section 48-7 of the Code of the Village of Sea Cliff is unconstitutional on it’s face.”

Judge Jaeger further stated, “Overall, defendants [Village of Sea Cliff] have failed to raise any triable issue of fact, or any legal authority to support the constitutionality of Section 48-7 [Village Code]. The other elements of the case will continue to trial.

Losquadro vs. Village of Sea Cliff
NYS Supreme Court Nassau County