Trinidadian National Among Caribbean Supreme Court Women Jurists Making History In New York

BY NELSON A. KING

A Trinidadian-born jurist has become the first woman and person of color to serve as a presiding judge as New York Supreme Court’s Appellate Term, Second Department, for the 2nd, 11th and 13th Judicial Districts made history with a bench comprising all women.

Judge Wavny Toussaint was elected to the New York Supreme Court in 2014 and appointed to the Appellate Term in 2020, is regarded as a jurist of “high integrity.”

“There have been many before me who struggled to ensure that the day would come when someone like me could step into this position, without the fanfare of being a ‘first’”, Justice Toussaint told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC). “I am grateful for their struggle. I remind myself, as I move forward as the Presiding Justice, that only history will tell whether, for all litigants, I ensured prompt decisions that were just, fair and based on the law.”

The court hears appeals from the New York City Civil Court, including its Housing and Small Claims Parts, and the New York City Criminal Court.

The other members appointed are Associate Justices Lisa S. Ottley, of Kings County, Brooklyn, whose father hailed from Trinidad and Tobago; Marina Mundy, of Richmond County; and Lourdes Ventura and Cheree Buggs, of Queens County. Last May, three Black women justices in New York including Trinidadian Michelle Weston, also created history by hearing cases together from the bench in the Appellate Term, Second Department, in the New York Supreme Court.

- Edited from CMC Y