Consider whether you would want to be involved in the following: a six-day bench trial; 35 witnesses, including city officials, experts, and persons with disabilities; 25,000 pages of documentary exhibits; several hundred pages of briefing and proposed findings of fact; and an additional trial to assess whether the city can justify its lack of accessibility
Federal Cases
Mixed motive and title I redux
By William Goren on
One of my more popular blog entries is the blog entry discussing University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar. In that blog entry, I talked about how that decision necessarily means that mixed motive jury instructions are available with respect to ADA title I (non-retaliation) claims. We now have a case, Siring…
Does a resignation end an employer’s duty to accommodate an employee?
By William Goren on
Posted in Federal Cases, Title I
An employee learns that she has cancer. Shaken up by the diagnosis she returns to work the same day and tells the on-site coordinator of her diagnosis. The on-site supervisor then communicates same to the company’s administration and on-site operations manager for the regional area explaining that the employee has been sent home because of…
SSDI v. ADA and the doctrine of judicial estoppel
By William Goren on
Person works for a company of over fifteen employees, develops a disability, and is terminated from her position because of that disability. She then files for SSDI. She then brings suit under the ADA for failure of the employer to reasonably accommodate her disability.
In these type of situations, the employer will invariably defend using…
When it comes to licensing, can a public entity conduct its processes in a way that discriminates against persons with disabilities or in a way that mandate discrimination against persons with disabilities?
By William Goren on
Many years ago I represented a public entity that was the subject of an adverse licensing decision. In that particular situation, the public entity had a group home for persons with a certain type of disability. The Medicaid certification inspection was done in such a way so that the disabilities of the people living in…
Otherwise qualified and reasonable accommodation two different concepts?
By William Goren on
In the employment context, in order to be protected under the ADA, you have to have a disability and you also have to be qualified (until the amendments act the term was otherwise qualified but the meaning remains the same). Whether a person is qualified under title I of the ADA, depends upon whether that…
Using the rehabilitation act to get around sovereign immunity in Title II cases
By William Goren on
Under Tennessee v. Lane, the equal protection class persons with disabilities fall into is going to depend upon the facts and circumstances of the individual case. That equal protection class is also going to dictate how likely a state is going to be able to defend on the grounds of sovereign immunity. The question…
If a child has an IEP and gets a service dog, must they exhaust administrative remedies before proceeding to the court house if the school refuses the service dog?
By William Goren on
Previously, I have talked about service dog v. therapy dogs. I have also talked about the administrative regulations from the Department of Justice with respect to the difference between service dogs and other kinds of dogs that a person with a disability may have with respect to how they would likely hold up under…
Some useful things to know about regarded as claims
By William Goren on
In order to get damages under title I of the ADA, you have to show intentional discrimination. In order to get damages under title II of the ADA, you have to show deliberate indifference. But what does intentional discrimination mean with respect to a regarded as claim? Must there be discriminatory animus or can there…
Would having a disability protect you from being terminated for harassing others?
By William Goren on
Consider: Employee/volunteer/Intern… with a disability is sexually harassing his or her coworkers. The disability is such that the employee/volunteer is unlikely to stop. The hiring authority terminates the employee/volunteer and the employee/volunteer sues the hiring authority for disability discrimination. This sounds very much like what could’ve been the case with the former Mayor of San…