Disability Law

Judge: Woman with history of stowaway attempts will be jailed if she keeps going to airports

During the past year, a 63-year-old retired legal secretary with a penchant for spending time at airports—and, authorities fear, a yen for totally ticketless travel—has tested the resources of the judicial system in at least four states. But on Thursday, an Illinois judge told Marilyn Hartman that she would be…

May 7, 2015 3:45 PM CDT

Serial stowaway attempter is charged with trespassing at Chicago airports

A 63-year-old retired legal secretary who repeatedly made headlines within the last year as she was charged with airport-related trespasses and stowaway attempts in multiple states is back in the news again. Marilyn Hartman, who at last report was being dealt with by authorities in Florida after allegedly checking into…

May 6, 2015 11:05 AM CDT

Ex-lawmaker charged with felony sex abuse is acquitted by jury

A former state lawmaker being criminally tried in an unusual sexual-abuse case, based on his late wife’s dementia, was acquitted Wednesday by an Iowa jury. Henry Rayhons was charged in the felony case after staff at the nursing home at which Donna Rayhons was then living determined, with the help…

Apr 22, 2015 4:10 PM CDT

Don’t participate in employee wellness program? Penalty can’t be too harsh, EEOC says in draft rules

Employers who want to punish employees who don’t participate in wellness programs can’t be too punitive, according to draft regulations by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The preliminary regulations were drafted to take into account the Americans With Disabilities Act, which restricts medical information that employers can obtain from…

Apr 20, 2015 12:24 PM CDT

Telecommuting option not required by ADA for job demanding ‘interpersonal skills,’ says court

An en banc federal appeals court has ruled that Ford Motor Co. was not required to offer a telecommuting option to a worker with irritable bowel syndrome and whose job required “good, old-fashioned interpersonal skills.” The 8-5 en banc opinion (PDF) on Friday by the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court…

Apr 14, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

DA’s office: Ex-lawyer charged in $1.2M theft got the money by having someone impersonate her client

A now-disbarred New York lawyer turned herself in Thursday to Nassau County authorities after being indicted in a $1.2 million theft from a client she represented in an eminent domain case. The district attorney’s office says Janice Jessup, 67, persuaded a court to give her the entire eminent domain award…

Apr 10, 2015 9:50 AM CDT

Sterilization of defendants in connection with plea deals is unacceptable, says DA

Pressuring a defendant in a criminal case to get sterilized is quite unusual. But it does happen, reports the Tennessean in a lengthy article about the case of one mentally ill woman in Nashville. In Jasmine Randers’ case, her public defender went to the Davidson County district attorney. The result…

Mar 30, 2015 2:40 PM CDT

Report: DOJ is investigating mental-health screening of bar applicants by Florida’s top court

The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the mental-health screening imposed by the Florida Supreme Court on bar applicants. In a December letter, the DOJ notified Chief Justice Jorge Labarga of the probe and asked for information about the mental-health questions posed to applicants, conditional admission procedures and whether hearings…

Mar 26, 2015 4:20 PM CDT

SCOTUS revives pregnancy bias case; Scalia says majority used ‘Supreme Wand’ to create test

A United Parcel Service employee who claimed the company failed to accommodate her 2006 pregnancy by giving her light duty will get a chance to pursue her claim as a result of a U.S. Supreme Court decision on Tuesday. The Supreme Court ruled on behalf of Peggy Young, though it…

Mar 25, 2015 12:16 PM CDT

Judge calls $600K legal fee in fast-track $1.5M settlement for woman punched by cop ‘unconscionable’

Noting that it took only about three months for a California lawyer to get a $1.5 million settlement concerning police conduct videotaped by a passing motorist, a federal judge last week described the attorney’s fee of over $600,000 charged by lawyer Caree Harper as “unconscionable.” However, although U.S. District Judge…

Mar 24, 2015 10:40 AM CDT

Deaf man took plea in theft case over iPad that wasn’t stolen, due to lack of communication

A homeless deaf man, who was arrested last year at a Washington, D.C., area airport where he was trying to sleep, spent six weeks in jail in Virginia and eventually took a plea in a case over a stolen iPad, due to a lack of communication. The iPad at issue,…

Mar 19, 2015 11:00 AM CDT

Former partner with Asperger’s alleges bonus bias, solicitation of prostitutes by colleague

A former law firm partner with Asperger’s syndrome alleges in a lawsuit that his firm, Patterson & Sheridan, failed to curb discriminatory actions by one partner while overlooking the conduct of another who solicited prostitutes while at the office. The plaintiff, John Carey, worked at the Palo Alto, California, office…

Mar 2, 2015 6:15 AM CST

Lawyer’s claustrophobia ADA suit survives motion to dismiss

A Philadelphia lawyer who claimed her law firm failed to accommodate her claustrophobia may proceed with her lawsuit, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Berle Schiller refused to dismiss the disability suit against the law firm Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, the Legal Intelligencer (sub. req.) reports.…

Mar 2, 2015 5:45 AM CST

Estate of ‘kung fu judge’ wins $750K in suit over his claimed unlawful confinement in nursing home

A nursing home in New York has agreed to settle a lawsuit for $750,000 that claimed a former Brooklyn judge was confined there against his will for eight months prior to his death in 2008. The case, which was brought by a nephew, also noted that his uncle was in…

Feb 18, 2015 4:20 PM CST

Advocacy group for the deaf sues Harvard, MIT; allege lack of closed-captioning for online courses

An advocacy group for the deaf sued Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Thursday over a claimed lack of closed-captioning in their online educational materials. Filed in federal court in Boston by the National Association for the Deaf, the two suits say the elite schools are violating…

Feb 12, 2015 12:50 PM CST