State will pay $325,000 to cover food truck's legal bill [View all]
ALBANY — Taxpayers will have to serve up $325,000 to cover the legal bills of a controversially named food truck that prevailed in a federal lawsuit prompted by a state agency's decision to ban it from selling its wares on the Empire State Plaza.
The Wandering Dago won its case in January at the end of a years-long legal battle with top officials at the state Office of General Services, which in 2013 rejected the truck's application to take part in the plaza's summer lunch program.
The stipulation covering legal fees and costs was signed July 6 by the truck's attorney, George Carpinello of Boies Schiller Flexner, and lawyers from Attorney General Barbara Underwood's office, which represented the Cuomo administration in the suit. U.S. District Judge Mae D'Agostino approved it on July 10. The state has four months to pay up.
"We are pleased to conclude this action, but wish we did not have to bring a lawsuit to begin with. It has cost everyone, including the taxpayers, a lot of time, money and aggravation," Carpinello said in an email.
Read more: https://www.timesunion.com/7day-state/article/State-will-pay-325-000-to-cover-food-truck-s-13093918.php
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