a. Whenever a person interferes by threats, intimidation or coercion or attempts to interfere by threats, intimidation or coercion with the exercise or enjoyment by any person of rights secured by the constitution or laws of the United States, the constitution or laws of this state, or local law of the city and such interference or attempted interference is motivated in whole or in part by the victim's actual or perceived race, creed, color, national origin, gender, sexual and reproductive health decisions, sexual orientation, age, whether children are, may or would be residing with such victim, marital status, partnership status, disability, or immigration or citizenship status as defined in chapter 1 of this title, the corporation counsel, at the request of the city commission on human rights or on the corporation counsel's own initiative, may bring a civil action on behalf of the city for injunctive and other appropriate equitable relief in order to protect the peaceable exercise or enjoyment of the rights secured.
b. An action pursuant to subdivision a of this section may be brought in any court of competent jurisdiction.
c. Violation of an order issued pursuant to subdivision a of this section may be punished by a proceeding for contempt brought pursuant to article 19 of the judiciary law and, in addition to any relief thereunder, a civil penalty may be imposed not exceeding $10,000 for each day that the violation continues.
(Am. L.L. 2018/063, 1/19/2018, eff. 10/16/2018; Am. L.L. 2019/020, 1/20/2019, eff. 5/20/2019; Am. L.L. 2020/058, 6/29/2020, eff. 8/28/2020)
Editor's note: For related unconsolidated provisions, see Appendix A at L.L. 1991/039 and L.L. 2005/085.