It’s coming straight from the horse’s mouth.
The highly effective union repping Central Park’s carriage horse drivers is suing animal advocacy group NYCLASS over an alleged multi-million greenback smear marketing campaign geared toward banning the business from the Massive Apple.
The nonprofit group falsely portrayed Gotham’s carriage drivers as abusive by way of a sequence of “malicious lies and misinformation” spanning many years — together with the reason for dying for a string of horses collapsing on metropolis streets, the Transport Employees Union charged in a Monday lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court docket.
“NYCLASS has promoted a false narrative for much too lengthy,” TWU Worldwide President John Samuelsen stated in a press release. “It has demonized an entire class of staff, largely immigrants who got here to New York Metropolis for the American Dream, as animal abusers, and that’s completely false.”
The advocacy group wrongly “capitalized” on the tragic deaths of carriage horses Girl and Aysha, who died in 2025 and 2020, respectively, the lawsuit claimed.
Whereas Girl died of pure causes and Aysha was misplaced to an undetected illness, in line with medical information, advocates tweeted that the deaths stemmed from “neglect,” courtroom papers stated.
Medical information present Aysha was given a clear invoice of well being after an October 2019 examination, however NYCLASS argued her handlers ought to have seen the warning indicators — because the mare died simply months later.
The animal abuse declare has gained a lot steam, the union claimed in courtroom filings, that it has turn out to be the premise for Ryder’s Legislation — a Metropolis Council invoice that, if handed, would section out horse carriages from Central Park altogether.
Mayor Eric Adams voiced help for the ban in September, when he issued an govt order to crack down on the “more and more incompatible” vestiges of outdated New York after 4 carriage horses ran wild in three separate incidents over the summer season.
“For years, New Yorkers have witnessed horses collapsing and even dying on our streets, spooking and working wild in site visitors, crashing into automobiles and injuring folks,” Edita Birnkrant, NYCLASS’ govt director, advised The Put up, arguing cities throughout the globe have began shutting down horse-drawn carriages.
“Extra are persevering with to take action yearly to guard public security and animal welfare.”
Birnkrant pointed to current polls which have proven a majority of New Yorkers backing the removing of “horse carriages from Midtown.”
NYCLASS can be being accused, within the courtroom submitting, of spreading a “sample of lies” about carriage house owners sending horses to slaughter – and that lame carriage horse Bernard, who was discovered at an notorious livestock public sale in 2024, was offered as a using horse by his Massive Apple driver and later re-sold by way of a 3rd occasion.
“That is NYCLASS’ sample” that dates again to 2009, the lawsuit stated.
“NYCLASS falsely and maliciously claims that something fallacious with a horse is the results of the horse carriage drivers, blatantly ignoring medical proof and details on the contrary to mislead the general public and destroy the horse carriage drivers’ potential to earn a residing,” the submitting added.
The union is in search of as much as $1 million in damages for “torturously” interfering with the vacationer attraction.
“NYCLASS has torturously interfered with this enterprise relationship and focused the general public — together with each present and potential clients — with knowingly false claims to be able to ban the horse carriage business in New York Metropolis,” the lawsuit contended.
The union additionally slammed the nonprofit’s brazen actual property pursuits, pointing to an advocacy brochure that reportedly touts changing horse-drawn carriages “will create a windfall for the carriage business from the sale of its multimillion greenback stables alone,” and end in city-tax revenues reportedly of as much as practically $2 million.
NYCLASS founder and president Stephen Nislick, who has fought for years to close down the horse carriage business, is a former actual property govt.
If he will get his want, the advocacy group stated Nislick plans to remain out of the redevelopment of the stables.
“From day one, Mr. Nislick made an ironclad pledge to not be concerned in any improvement initiatives related to the midtown stables,” NYCLASS stated in a press release. “Past this, he’ll signal an settlement stating that, even when the stables have been provided to him without cost, he wouldn’t settle for possession of the land in any form or type.”
