The Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter is under fire again, with three lawsuits filed alleging that the town, which runs the shelter, has violated the rights of its volunteers by banning them from the shelter with no clear explanation.
The suits come as advocates call leadership politically corrupt, unqualified and the cause of volunteer injury and negligent animal care and adoption.
Animal shelter volunteers Nicholas Febrizio, River Carlson and Janice Blake all filed independent lawsuits against the Town of Hempstead over the past few months after receiving unexpected letters from the town on April 9 stating they were banned from all town facilities when they showed up for a volunteer shift.
No reason was provided for the bans, though Febrizio and Blake believe they were targeted for speaking out about issues at the shelter.
The three volunteers allege that their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated by the town.
The Town of Hempstead declined to comment, stating they do not comment on pending litigation. Efforts to reach the animal shelter were unavailing.
The volunteers’ ban letters have since been amended to state that the volunteers are banned only from the animal shelter. The letters said there was an investigation against the three volunteers, but it is not clear if any investigations are actually open.
“Without a doubt, this letter was a violation of his constitutional rights of freedom of speech, of assembly, and to access public places. We believe very strongly in those claims,” said attorney Amanda Disken, who represents Febrizio and Carlson in their respective suits.
Disken said she believes there are other volunteers who received similar letters who have not yet come forward.
The volunteers have no apparent connection to each other. Febrizio and Carlson are both volunteer dog walkers, while Blake has worked with the shelter’s Trap-Neuter-Release program for nearly a decade.
Disken said she believes Febrizio was banned because he had been vocal about his concerns about the shelter, particularly its treatment of a dog named Titan, who was placed in solitary confinement after biting someone.
Febrizio created a Facebook page called Save Titan, citing a concern that the dog might be euthanized. The town ban listed Febrizio’s Facebook handle instead of his legal name.
“The town did not want Nick to speak out about Titan, because there were…a lot of animal advocacy groups behind Titan’s case trying to avoid euthanasia and just get him placed somewhere else,” Disken said. “Without a doubt [the ban] was to stop him from speaking out on social media.”
Blake’s lawsuit states that her ban came after she spoke out about concerns she had involving the shelter, including “operational failures, animal neglect and potential corruption.”
“Blake…had dedicated her life and personal finances to the town’s Trap-Neuter-Release program,” her lawsuit states. “When she exercised her sacrosanct First Amendment right to speak out against matters of public concern…[the town] deployed the full, chilling force of government power to silence her.”
Disken said she believes the bans were meant to discourage volunteers and advocates from speaking out against the shelter and have had a “chilling effect” on volunteer and advocate speech.
The town was sued for a similiar reason back in 2010 by Diane Madden, who has been an advocate for the shelter for the past 25 years and ran unsuccessfully against Don Clavin for town supervisor in 2019 on the Libertarian ticket.
Madden, both in 2010 and now, expressed concerns similar to those in Blake’s lawsuit about how the shelter is run. Madden’s lawsuit, which she won, alleged she was “banned” from the shelter in October 2010, “after speaking out to shelter employees and town officials about the cruel and inhumane instances of animal abuse and neglect observed in the shelter.”
Disken said the next court date for her clients is set for next month.
