I
Introduction
Sometimes a case can have a huge impact on the ADA universe even though it is not an ADA case at all. Gross v. FBL Financial Services 557 U.S. 167 (2009) is one such case and today’s case is another. As is my usual practice, the blog entry has been divided into several
title II
Can You Get Compensatory and Punitive Damages in Title II ADA Retaliation Claims
By William Goren on
Previously, I have written on whether you can get compensatory and punitive damages in ADA retaliation claims. That particular blog entry despite its title was restricted to title I claims of the ADA. That is, claims arising from employment. But what about title II claims of the ADA. That is, a retaliation claim arising from…
Service dogs: you may be surprised how much there is to think about
By William Goren on
Meaningful access does not mean total access
By William Goren on
Previously, I have blogged that with respect to title II, the critical question is whether a person has meaningful access to the services, programs, activities of the public entity. This week’s case, Medina v. City of Cape Coral (an unpublished decision), , 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 168680 (M.D. Fla. December 5, 2014), stands for the…
Police liability for ADA/fourth amendment violations comes to the Supreme Court
By William Goren on
It has been awhile since the United States Supreme Court dealt with an ADA question. A fact I am happy with as predicting what the United States Supreme Court does with an ADA question is impossible since the ADA does not break down along traditional liberal conservative lines.
This particular blog entry focuses on a…
Why can’t more guidances be like this one?
By William Goren on
I’m not a big fan of guidances for several reasons: I find that lawyers rely on them as a crutch unnecessarily in many cases; the guidances oftentimes push an agenda and are not based on case law or regulations; as guidances they are not regulations and so therefore are subject to being ignored by the…
Do places of higher education with training programs and technical standards now have permission to freely discriminate against persons with disabilities?
By William Goren on
In one of my most popular blog entries, ADA compliance auditing: higher education version, I mention technical standards in a comment to that entry. Many training programs as a condition of accreditation have developed technical standards that people in the program must meet in order to get into the program and stay into the…
A triple play: does title you sue under with respect to a retaliation claim depend upon subject or context; compliance expert testimony in ADA cases; and catspaw
By William Goren on
This particular blog entry deals with three different topics all contained within the same case. The case is Powell v. Valdosta City School District, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 157158 (M.D. GA November 6, 2014). As is my usual, I have divided the blog entries into categories: facts, issues, holdings, court’s reasoning, and takeaways. The…
OCR issues dear colleague letter on bullying on the basis of disability
By William Goren on
In the last quarter, my most popular blog entry was the one dealing with ADA Compliance Auditing: Higher Education Version, and so I thought I would turn to education again. In this particular blog entry, the United States Department of Education Office for Civil Rights issued a Dear Colleague letter on October 21, 2014…
Belton v. Georgia settles with a consent decree
By William Goren on
In a previous blog entry entitled help-wanted ASL practitioners, I discussed the case of Belton v. Georgia. On October 3, 2014 that case settled with a consent decree. I thought it would be helpful to cover some of the salient points of the consent decree. They are as follows:
Definitional Terms:
1. A deaf…