As many of my readers know, Justice Souter died last week. I thought I would explore his legacy with respect to the rights of persons with disabilities. As usual, the blog entry is divided into categories and they are: opinions for the court; concurring opinions; dissenting opinions; and Heller v. Doe, a dissenting opinion the
Barnes v. Gorman
Confluence of State and Federal Laws When it Comes to Service Animals
Today’s blog entry is an update on a prior blog entry we discussed here. In the prior blog entry, we discussed how the police could escape liability when a place of public accommodation did not do the right thing with respect to allowing a service dog in its premises and the police were called.…
It Was Inevitable: A Court of Appeals Holds Emotional Distress Damages Not Available Under Title II of the ADA
When Cummings v. Premier Rehab Keller was decided, discussed here, it was inevitable that eventually courts would start addressing the issue of whether Title II of the ADA allows for emotional distress damages. During Cummings oral argument, a couple of the Justices anticipated that, and court decisions are beginning to come on this issue. The…
Does Title I of the ADA Apply When the Plaintiff is no Longer Qualified/Otherwise Qualified?
Today’s blog entry is not on an issue that I have blogged on previously. It deals with the question of what happens when a person leaves employment and was otherwise qualified during that employment, but after the employment ends, some discriminatory action occurs. Does title I apply since the person is no longer otherwise qualified/qualified?…
The Greatest Hits 2022 Edition
Today’s blog entry is my yearly wrap up of the most popular blog entries for 2022. As I always do, there are some additional blog entries that I keep in the greatest hits category due to what I believe is their significance even though they may not be the most popular. With respect to the…
Cummings Decided
I have been blogging since December, 2011. In all that time, I can count on one hand the number of times that I have blogged more than once during a week. As far as I can recall, I have never blogged on back-to-back days. I had actually completed two drafts of the blog entry that…
Temporary Disability, EEOC Charges, and an ADA/Rehabilitation Act Case Comes to the Supreme Court
Happy Fourth of July week everyone. Hope everyone had a great Fourth of July. I am sure many are taking the week off or having an extended holiday. Have fun and be safe.
Today’s blog entry is a three in one. In particular, we will talk about how do you figure out when a…
Another Arrow in the Quiver for Plaintiff Attorneys When it Comes to Effective Communication Claims
I would say about 10% of my blog entries deal with ADA related nondiscrimination laws and concepts but not the ADA itself, including such things as the Fair Housing Act, Air Carrier Access Act, and constitutional law. Occasionally, we throw in a state law as well. Today is another one of those, the, Affordable Care…
Repeated Violations Doctrine
This is a situation I see all the time. Let’s say you are at a university. A student goes to disability services, gets an accommodation plan, even gives it to the teacher. The teacher resists. The student may or may not try to fix it until later in the semester figuring that something will develop.…
Can DOJ Enforce Title II of the ADA Redux
Previously, we discussed in this blog entry a case out of the Southern District of Florida holding that DOJ had no authority to enforce on its own title II of the ADA. That decision laid out the case against DOJ having independent title II enforcement. However, I thought it would be interesting to discuss…