This week’s blog entry is a how to for what NOT to do if you are a business faced with an accommodation request. The case of the day is Patterson v. Six Flags Theme Parks, Inc., here, decided on November 15, 2024, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. As usual, the blog entry is divided into categories and they are: what not to do if you are a business faced with an accommodation request (in this case from a Deaf individual); court’s reasoning that plaintiff has standing; court throws the book at Six…
Continue Reading How a Business Should NOT Go About Accommodating a Person with a Disability

Today’s blog entry deals with the question of what happens if you are a college or university and a student acts out. The acting out is related to a disability or to medication the person is taking for that disability. Instead of engaging the student or discussing whether reasonable accommodations/modifications might solve the problem, the student if put through the disciplinary system and eventually discharge from the program. These are essentially the shortened version of the facts in Hight v. University of Chicago decided by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, on October…
Continue Reading Think Twice Before Terminating a Student for Disability Related Conduct

I started writing this blog on election day, which turned out to be very interesting by the end of it with President Trump winning both the popular and electoral votes. Of course, the next question is what does that election mean for persons with disabilities. We don’t know, but a few immediate thoughts come to mind. First, if President Trump’s first term is any indication, don’t expect to see web accessibility rules for private entities. Second, the Department of Justice under President Biden has been very supportive of persons with disabilities. I would expect a President Trump administration, if his…
Continue Reading Trial Judge Gets Hammered for Not Accommodating a Probable Disability of Trial Counsel and the ADA Not Even Involved

Today’s blog entry goes back to the issue of whether an Internet only business website is subject to title III of the ADA. As we have discussed previously, such as here, there are several theoretical possibilities for handling such a claim, and they are: Internet is never a place of public accommodation; Internet is always a place of public accommodation; Internet site only has to be accessible if it is a gateway or has a nexus to a physical place; and Internet site has to be meaningfully accessible to persons with disabilities if it is of the type of…
Continue Reading Southern District of New York Splits Within Itself: Internet Only Business Not a Place of Public Accommodations

As everyone knows, I keep a pipeline of cases to blog on. Sometimes, even with my pipeline of cases, I just get stuck. One of the things that my readers may not realize is that while my practice focuses on understanding the ADA so that the client understands how to comply with that law and related laws, “related laws,” really means something. For example, I have consulted on a case involving the interactive process with respect to the Fair Housing Act. I also have consulted on several cases involving the intersection of the Airline Deregulation Act, Title II of the…
Continue Reading DOT Hammers American Airlines for its Treatment of Persons with Disabilities

I hope everyone that celebrated had a good new year season. Wishing all of those a happy new year. In other news, early election voting is underway in many states. My family voted yesterday. Be sure to vote for the candidate of your choice.
 
Today’s blog entry returns to a long-standing interest of mine. As readers know, I have long been interested in the intersection of sports and the ADA. You can find many Understanding the ADA blog entries that explore the intersectionality of the ADA and sports. Today’s blog entry is a bit different because it explores Title…
Continue Reading Interactive Process, Retaliation, and Interference in Title III

Our blog entry of the day reminds me of the situation where a team wins the football game but loses a key player in the process. I thought of that when reading EEOC v. Walmart Stores East, L.P., here, decided by the Seventh Circuit on August 27, 2024. As usual, the blog entry is divided into categories, and they are: facts; Walmart’s knowledge of plaintiff’s disability and the interactive process; sufficiency of evidence for punitives and compensatory damages should not be reduced; need to revisit the district court’s injunctive relief order; and thought/takeaways. Of course, the reader is free…
Continue Reading Won the Game But Lost the Right Tackle: EEOC v. Walmart Stores East, L.P.

Before proceeding with today’s blog entry, I want to wish everyone celebrating a happy new year. I realize that my blog entry is late this week, but I have a good reason for it. We got back from parents weekend last Sunday, then had to deal with Helene damage, which fortunately was not anything that couldn’t be handled, and then we had the Jewish new year.
 
The blog entry of the week continues our theme from last week, which is nondelegable duties of Title II entities and how they may face direct liability for that delegation or for ignoring…
Continue Reading Direct Liability for a Title II Entity Delegating Their ADA Responsibilities Redux

On Friday of last week, I presented to the Minnesota CLE Health Law Institute in Minneapolis on working with disabled clients and disabled attorneys. One of the cases that came up is the one that we are going to be talking about this week, Battle v. state of Tennessee, here, decided by the Middle District of Tennessee on September 6, 2024. If the reasoning of this case proves persuasive in other courts, this decision could be a very big deal indeed for the reasons we will discuss. As usual, blog entry is divided into categories, and they are: facts;…
Continue Reading Direct Liability for a Title II Entity Delegating Their ADA Responsibilities

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I just got back from the Federal Bar Association national convention in Kansas City, which was fabulous. I was part of a fantastic panel speaking on policing and persons with disabilities. In particular, we talked about a lot of different things. My part focused on why Graham v. Connor should no longer be used as the basis for training (we discussed that issue in this blog entry), and the police responsibility for getting the laws regarding service animals, particularly with respect to title III of the ADA, correct. The panel was fabulous…
Continue Reading Temporary Impairments, Minor Defined, and Whether Medical Testimony is Required in Order to Establish a Disability

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend.
 
This week’s blog entry is a case out of the Second Appellate District of the Court of Appeal of the State of California. It is a case involving whether attorney fees can be imposed upon plaintiff’s counsel as a sanction when the lawsuit is frivolous. The case is Morgan v. Zarco Hotels Inc. decided on August 21, 2024 and can be found here. As usual, blog entry is divided into categories and they are: facts; court’s reasoning the award of attorney fees against plaintiff’s counsel as a sanction must be…
Continue Reading Can a Court Sanction an Attorney By Imposing Attorney Fees on the Attorney in an ADA Matter?

Did you know that asthma might not be a disability? How is that even possible? After all, asthma is certainly a physical impairment that limits breathing and the immune system. Even so, the Sixth Circuit in Andrews v. Tri-Star Sports and Entertainment Group, Inc., here, on August 21, 2024, said that a plaintiff’s asthma was not a disability under the ADA. How did they get there? There was also a dissenting opinion worth discussing as well. As usual, the blog entry is divided into categories and they are: facts; majority opinion’s reasoning that Andrews forfeited certain arguments; majority opinion’s…
Continue Reading Did You Know that Asthma Might Not be a Disability? I Didn’t Either Until Now