Opusunju v. Giuliani
| Decision Date | 19 December 1997 |
| Parties | , 1998 N.Y. Slip Op. 98,062 In the Matter of Silva OPUSUNJU et al., Petitioners, and Federal Republic of Nigeria, Intervenor-Petitioner, v. Rudolph W. GIULIANI, as Mayor of the City of New York, et al., Respondents. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court |
Page 156
and
Federal Republic of Nigeria, Intervenor-Petitioner,
v.
Rudolph W. GIULIANI, as Mayor of the City of New York, et
al., Respondents.
Hal Ian Wolsky, Garden City, for petitioners and intervenor-petitioner.
Jeffrey D. Friedlander, Acting Corporation Counsel of New York City (Michael H. Williams, of counsel), for respondents.
WILLIAM LEIBOVITZ, Justice.
In this proceeding brought under CPLR article 78 and for a declaratory judgment,
Page 157
petitioners claim that New York City should be enjoined from naming a City street corner in a manner that would politically offend and embarrass them, injure their property rights, and unconstitutionally interfere with the exclusive federal power of the United States to conduct its foreign affairs. The government of Nigeria has requested permission to intervene as a petitioner.Initially, the application to intervene is granted under CPLR 1013, in the court's discretion, since among the various petitioners Nigeria is the party principally interested in this matter. Other petitioners herein are the Congress of Nigerians Abroad, Inc., a New York not-for-profit corporation representing Nigerians living outside of that country, and Silva Opusunju, an officer of that organization.
Another application to intervene has been made jointly by two individuals, Taiwo Ogunade and Tunde Harrison, who assert they are Nigerian citizens residing in New York. Apart from their opposition to the petition, they allege no substantial basis on which to intervene, and any possible interest they may claim is already adequately represented by the respondents. Moreover, the proposed intervenors have not filed proposed pleadings as required under CPLR 1014. Their application to intervene is denied.
Background
In May 1997, Community Board Six of Manhattan recommended to the New York City Council that the name "Kudirat Abiola Corner" be added to the corner of Second Avenue and East 44th Street in Manhattan, in memory of the slain wife of a candidate in the 1993 Nigerian presidential election whom Nigeria later jailed as a dissident, where he remains. In early October 1997, the Community Board, after various protests from the Nigerian government and individual Nigerians, withdrew its position on the naming of the corner and requested the City Council to make its own decision.
On October 29, 1997, after a hearing, the City Council enacted Local Laws, 1997, No. 93 of the City of New York, which added the name "Kudirat Abiola Corner" to the northeast corner of Second Avenue and East 44th Street in Manhattan. Across from that corner, at 828 Second Avenue, the Nigerian government owns a building in which the Nigerian Mission to the United Nations and Nigerian Consulate are located, in addition to the offices of petitioner the Congress of Nigerians Abroad, Inc. In November 1997, the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, D.C. filed a formal note of protest of Local Law 93 with the State Department of the United States, calling the law a political effort to embarrass the Nigerian government.
Because the Mayor of New York did not sign or veto Local Law 93 within thirty days of passage, the law was to become effective. However, another judge of this court issued a temporary restraining order to the original petitioners herein, which was extended, staying Local Law 93 pending this determination.
Discussion
Petitioners assert that New York City has intruded on United States foreign policy, which recognizes the government of Nigeria, by naming a street corner adjoining its building after Kudirat Abiola, the wife of Mashood K.O. Abiola, a jailed Nigerian rebel. It is argued that Nigeria "charged Kudirat Abiola with subversion and treason, though she was killed before she was tried" (Petitioners' Memo., at p. 9). As such, petitioners contend that Local Law 93 is a "targeted political statement" contrary to the position of the United States...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
East Timor Action Network v. City of New York
... ... Recognizing that temporary street signs are a forum for expressive activities, in 1996 Mayor Giuliani erected a street sign near the Cuban mission naming the street "Esquino Hermanos Al Rescate/Brothers to the Rescue Corner," in support for Brothers ... See Opusunju v. Giuliani, 175 Misc.2d 541, 669 N.Y.S.2d 156 (Sup.Ct. 1997) ... DOT also denied a 1997 request from the National Council on ... ...
-
BANK of America v. KESO SAGG LLC., Motion Sequence No.: 001 MOT D
... ... See, CPLR 1014; see also. Opusunju v. Giuliani, 175 Misc.2d 541, 542, 669 N.Y.S.2d 156, 157. It is noted that even if the Additional Counterclaimants had moved to intervene, such ... ...
-
State & local economic sanctions: the constitutionality of New York's divestment actions and the Sudan Accountability & Divestment Act of 2007.
...See Brief for the United States as Amicus Curiae, supra note 268, at 51. (270) Breard, 523 U.S. at 378. (271) Opusunju v. Giuliani, 669 N.Y.S.2d 156, 157 (Sup. Ct. (272) Id. at 260. (273) Id. at 159 (quoting Zschering v. Miller, 389 U.S. 429, 441 (1968)). (274) Id. (275) Id. at 160. (276) A......