Text of August 16, 2023 press release.
Statement by Cuomo Spokesman Rich Azzopardi on Subpoena Served on Former State Senator Biaggi in Trooper 1 Suit:
“The AG’s Report, political hit job that it was, was cut and pasted into this suit and the people of New York deserve to have the actual truth and the facts behind it. The only reason Biaggi would be afraid of testifying is that she is afraid of the truth. It's telling that it is Lindsey Boylan who is spending her money and her attorney’s time to prevent Biaggi from going under oath. What exactly are they trying to hide?”
Subpoena https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hFJRTKTo14Mje0l-qKVBNtFmXOs-nZaR/view
Court letter https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x1XatYGa6SyCL7Uz8A3r0YnwYiy7wiEY/view
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August 16, 2023
BY ECF
Hon. Taryn A. Merkl
United States District Court
Eastern District of New York
225 Cadman Plaza East
Brooklyn, New York 11201
Re: Trooper 1 v. NYSP et al., 22-cv-893 (LDH) (TAM)
Dear Judge Merkl:
Yesterday at approximately 2:00 pm, Alessandra Biaggi was served with a
subpoena seeking three categories of documents related to Trooper 1’s broad allegations.
Nine hours later, Ms. Boylan, not Ms. Biaggi, filed a letter asking the Court to quash the
subpoena to Ms. Biaggi. ECF. No. 116. Ms. Boylan seeks broad relief asking “the Court to
direct Mr. Cuomo not to enforce the Biaggi Subpoena” in its entirety even though that
subpoena seeks many documents wholly unrelated to Ms. Boylan.
Ms. Boylan is not a party to the Trooper 1 Action. Yet she has now sought to block
at least eight subpoenas in this litigation to other nonparties. She has done so even where,
as with the subpoena to Ms. Biaggi, Ms. Boylan is neither the recipient nor the focus of the
subpoena. Not only that, Ms. Boylan, a former candidate for two political offices with an
active public life, has no conceivable privacy interest in her communications with a former
elected official who is, just like Ms. Boylan, a “well-known ‘outspoken critic’” of
Governor Cuomo. Discovery into Trooper 1’s allegations cannot come to a screeching halt
just because Ms. Boylan says so.1
If Ms. Boylan (or Ms. Biaggi, on whose behalf Ms. Boylan’s request to quash was
obviously written) wants not to be a part of the Trooper 1 Action, she should publicly
demand that Trooper 1 withdraw all allegations in the Complaint concerning Ms. Boylan,
the OAG and AJC Investigations and Reports, and all other claimants. It is telling that Ms.
Boylan has not done so. Unless and until those allegations are no longer part of the Trooper
1 Action, Governor Cuomo is entitled by law to take discovery into them.
Finally, Ms. Boylan’s letter is procedurally improper. Although the Court granted
her leave to be heard on Trooper 1’s arguments that information concerning Ms. Boylan’s
relationship with her former boss should not be disclosed, Ms. Boylan has not been given
leave to appear in the Trooper 1 Action for all purposes. Further, Ms. Boylan does not have
standing to seek to quash the Biaggi Subpoena, which seeks routine civil discovery. Ms.
Boylan simply does not get a say over every subpoena Governor Cuomo serves.
Ms. Boylan’s request to quash, written on behalf of another nonparty, should be
stricken from the record. In the alternative, but for the same reasons, her request should be
denied.
Respectfully submitted,
/s/ Theresa Trzaskoma
Theresa Trzaskoma
___
1 At the insistence of Trooper 1 (in mid-May), and over our objection, we have not even served
several of the nonparty subpoenas, which means that significant avenues of discovery have been
stalled for months.
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