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By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell Book

SDNY COURTHOUSE, Jan 12 – Faigy Rachel Weiss sued CUNY for being rejected for the Silberman School of Social Work for, she says, being a white Hasidic Jewish female and because of her "imputed political opinion."  

 On June 13, 2022 U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Magistrate Judge Valerie Figueredo held a proceeding. Inner City Press covered it. 

 Weiss marveled at what she called the arrogance of the publicly paid defendant's lawyers.

 She said she is "shocked at the corruption." The defense countered that mediation would be pointless.

Judge Figueredo however signed a referral to mediation by June 23, and ordered the plaintiff to comply with a motion to compel.

That after mediation was deferred pending a pro bono lawyer, Ms. Weiss wrote to Judge Figueredo that "opposing counsel, who is a tax paid government employee working on behalf of an elected official, has ordered me to sign a different statement that what I wrote... I ask that opposing counsel not be allowed to coerce me to sign anything other than the statement I already signed."

On July 26, Judge Figueredo ordered "Plaintiff is directed to submit a notarized verification of her responses to Document Requests 2 and 4 by no later than Monday, August 8, 2022. As stated at the conference: FAILURE TO SUBMIT THIS VERIFICATION BY THE DEADLINE PROVIDED MAY RESULT IN SANCTIONS, INCLUDING PLAINTIFF BEING PRECLUDED FROM RELYING ON THIS INFORMATION AT TRIAL. Finally, on June 14, 2022, this case was referred to the Court's Mediation Program (see ECF No. 186). On June 22, 2022, this Court ordered the Clerk of Court to locate pro bono counsel to represent Plaintiff in the mediation (see ECF No. 189). However, given that the Mediation Office may be unable to locate pro bono counsel for Plaintiff, the parties are directed to move forward with scheduling a mediation. The Clerk of Court is directed to close the motion at ECF No. 191. SO ORDERED.. (Signed by Magistrate Judge Valerie Figueredo on 7/26/2022)."

On July 29 Weiss wrote to Judge Figueredo requesting "all of the applications that I have repeatedly requested. If that is not possible, because defendants have deliberately destroyed most of their documents to cover up their illegal and discriminatory admissions process... I respectfully request that this case be stayed so that the parties can negotiate a settlement."

And again on August 22, this time to the District Judge: "LETTER addressed to Judge Vernon S. Broderick from Faige Weiss, dated 8/22/22 re: I am writing in regard to a discovery matter which arose during discovery regarding the applications for all applicants who applied to the program etc. Defendants know that they have an illegal and discriminatory admissions process so they falsified their data and deliberately destroyed most of their documents to cover up their illegal and discriminatory admissions process. Defendants are unable to disprove their illegal and discriminatory admissions process without providing the missing information that they deliberately destroyed and should not be allowed to submit a motion for summary judgment without the crucial missing data. Document filed by Faigy Rachel Weiss."

On September 14, the plaintiff filed a letter complaining that CUNY's "counsel already submitted her own letter but refused to include my objections even though it was supposed to be a joint letter." Statistics were provided, and spoliation by CUNY again alleged.

On January 11, 2023 Judge Figueredo held another conference, which Inner City Press again covered. The plaintiff asked questions about the judicial branch's oversight of the executive; defense counsel repeatedly objected to characterizations and asides. Afterward Judge Figueredo ruled: "Plaintiff's spoliation motion is DENIED, given that Defendants have located and produced the application materials sought by Plaintiff. To the extent that Plaintiff now raises-for the first time-issues concerning the format of application materials previously produced by Defendants, Plaintiff's objection is untimely. The materials were produced to Plaintiff during discovery and Plaintiff's pro bono counsel never raised an objection. Therefore, Plaintiff's objection is untimely as it was made months after the close of discovery. SO ORDERED. (Signed by Magistrate Judge Valerie Figueredo on 1/12/2023)."

The case is Weiss v. City University of New York et al., 17-cv-3557 (Broderick / Figueredo)  

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