She lost her shirt — and gained $40,000.
Serial breast-baring performance artist and photographer Holly Van Voast won the payout from the city to settle her lawsuit that claimed the NYPD repeatedly violated her constitutional rights to walk around the Big Apple shirtless by putting her in cuffs, according to court papers released on Wednesday.
Van Voast, 46, of the Bronx, who regularly boasts a penciled-in mustache and a Marilyn Monroe hairdo, had claimed in the Manhattan federal court lawsuit that she was illegally arrested and at times tossed in mental wards at least 10 times for going shirtless in public “while exercising her right to be topless anywhere a man is permitted to be topless.”
She had been touring the city as “Harvey Van Toast, the topless paparazzo,” the suit says “After experiencing numerous busts, we are pleased that Holly Van Voast has received compensation,” said her lawyer Ron Kuby. “The policy of the NYPD has been changed as a result of Van Voast’s experiences, and now the NYPD has been properly instructed as to the proper handling of bare breasts.”
In one 2012 bust, Van Voast was stopped by cops outside a Midtown Hooter’s while she was celebrating the 20-year-anniversary of a state Court of Appeals decision that found going topless is not specifically barred by law in New York state — either for men or women.
In February, the NYPD ordered cops not to arrest women just for being topless, saying they should “not issue summonses or take law-enforcement action” against anybody naked from the waist up.
Any criminal charges against Van Voast mentioned in the lawsuit were dropped prior to the settlement, Kuby said.
In addition to the $40,000 for Van Voast, the city has agreed to pay her $37,500 tab for legal fees, according to the settlement deal.
Earlier this month, a busty brunette from Brooklyn filed suit against the NYPD in state court, saying cops trampled on her right to flaunt what Mother Nature gave her when they arrested her for going topless in a Gravesend park and forced her to cover up.
Jessica Krigsman, 24, filed suit against the NYPD and the two officers who arrested her in July 2012.
Krigsman had taken off her shirt and was relaxing on a bench in Calvert Vaux Park when the cops walked over and told her to cover up, according to her Brooklyn Supreme Court lawsuit.
“She was minding her own business sunbathing, and they approached her aggressively,” said Krigsman’s lawyer, Stuart Jacobs. “They asked for ID and told her to put on her shirt.”
Krigsman vowed to continue to go topless in public.
Regarding the Van Voast settlement, city lawyer Ben Kuruvill in a statement said, “the city had solid defenses in these cases,” and that the settlement “for 10 incidents was merely a business decision.”