Inquiry
To Whom It May Concern:
I am examining the OATH data uploaded to the NYC Open Data Portal and I have a few queries about the data.
For the hearingstatus variable, I am unable to find any information as to what some of the terms mean:
While I am aware that “ASSIGNED” means “summons had a hearing, the case is assigned, and a decision is pending but do the following mean, exactly: “ASSIGNED TO APPEALS”; “HRG BEFORE ASSIGN”; “PERFECTION REQUIRED”; “STAY REQUESTED”; “STAYED”; and STIPULATION OFFERED. For the last one, specifically, what is the difference between “STIP NEEDS REVIEW” (which means “Stipulation offered by enforcement agency (petitioner) and stipulation was accepted by respondent”) and “STIPULATION OFFERED”?
For the hearingresult variable, what does “COSRV INVIO” mean? Likewise for “POP IN-VIOL” and “SETTL IN-VIO”. I am unable to find any information on your website as to what they refer to. Also, how different are these 3 above-listed values from “IN VIOLATION” and what specifically does this mean? Are there overlaps in meaning?
Also, could you please enlighten me as to what the prefix “SAU” stands for in the scheduledhearinglocation and the decisionlocationborough variables. This prefix “SAU:” is placed before every borough. For example, “SAU: BKLN” or “SAU”MANH”.
Finally, I am not sure if this is a typo but in the violationdescription variable, besides “ASBESTOS”, “BAR”, “COMMERCIAL”, “FIRE”, “MULTIPLE DWELLING”, and “NOISE” there is the “1 -D142 2 FAMILY” value whose meaning I cannot fathom.
Thank you in advance for your time.
Assigned Agencys Response
Thank you for contacting NYC Open Data Help Desk. Please see below the responses to your questions:
For the hearingstatus variable, I am unable to find any information as to what some of the terms mean:
While I am aware that “ASSIGNED” means “summons had a hearing, the case is assigned, and a decision is pending but do the following mean, exactly: “ASSIGNED TO APPEALS”; “HRG BEFORE ASSIGN”; “PERFECTION REQUIRED”; “STAY REQUESTED”; “STAYED”; and STIPULATION OFFERED. For the last one, specifically, what is the difference between “STIP NEEDS REVIEW” (which means “Stipulation offered by enforcement agency (petitioner) and stipulation was accepted by respondent”) and “STIPULATION OFFERED”?
Assigned – Assigned to a hearing officer.
Assigned to Appeals – the summons has had an appeal filed and is with our appeals department
Hrg before assign – the summons was heard before OATH got a copy of it
Perfection Required -- An appeal has been entered but there is still paperwork that needs to be filed for the appeal to progress
Stay Requested – the respondent has filed a request to stay a case and prevent it from progressing (to default/docketing/collections etc.)
Stayed – For a variety of legal reasons (e.g., a respondent request, a hold pending some kind of negotiation or legal case), the case has a stay placed on it
Stipulation offered – this is a program that allows certain Buildings cases to be settled before a hearing subject to certain conditions. This indicator means that the offer of stipulation was sent out by OATH on behalf of the issuing agency.
Stip needs review – A respondent has accepted the offer of stipulation but for a variety of reasons, the stipulation may require intervention by OATH staff in order to be processed
For the hearingresult variable, what does “COSRV INVIO” mean? Likewise for “POP IN-VIOL” and “SETTL IN-VIO”. I am unable to find any information on your website as to what they refer to. Also, how different are these 3 above-listed values from “IN VIOLATION” and what specifically does this mean? Are there overlaps in meaning?
COSRV INVIO means "In Violation, Community Service Eligible" and applies only to summonses related to the Criminal Justice Reform Act (CJRA), for which community service is an available alternative to payment of a fine for an In Violation summons.
POP In Vio means "In Violation – Publicly Owned Property" – the respondent is the city itself. In these cases, the agency that owns the property isn't required to pay.
Settl In Vio means that there was a settlement prior to hearing and the respondent is recorded as having been in violation as a condition of to that settlement
They all mean that the finding is that the respondent is in violation.
Also, could you please enlighten me as to what the prefix “SAU” stands for in the scheduledhearinglocation and the decisionlocationborough variables. This prefix “SAU:” is placed before every borough. For example, “SAU: BKLN” or “SAU”MANH”.
SAU signifies that a case was assigned to the Hearings by Mail unit
Finally, I am not sure if this is a typo but in the violationdescription variable, besides “ASBESTOS”, “BAR”, “COMMERCIAL”, “FIRE”, “MULTIPLE DWELLING”, and “NOISE” there is the “1 -D142 2 FAMILY” value whose meaning I cannot fathom.
This field is used by various agencies to store various information, generally indicating something additional (a building type, a violation type) – it’s not consistent across OATH’s data. I will contact Open Data to see how they're assembling it
Thank you,
-Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings
