Judge refuses to award fees to two lawyers with boilerplate ADA complaints, seeks elusive plaintiff

A federal judge in Brooklyn has refused to award fees to two lawyers who have filed dozens of lawsuits against businesses for alleged violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act, warning the duo that their “tactics will no longer be tolerated.” U.S. District Judge Sterling Johnson Jr. ruled (PDF) in…

Apr 1, 2013 3:23 PM CDT

Man stranded on Disney’s ‘It’s a Small World’ ride wins pain and suffering damages

A disabled man trapped on a ride at Disneyland as music blared overhead has won an $8,000 damages award in federal court. The nightmare for Jose Martinez began the day after Thanksgiving in 2009 when his and his wife’s ride on “It’s a Small World” was coming to an end.…

Mar 27, 2013 6:12 PM CDT

Are shopping websites covered by disability law? The answer could be ‘yes’ in new DOJ regs

Only a few courts have held that websites are covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act; most take the view that the 1990 law doesn’t apply to the Internet. The Justice Department could embrace the minority view when it issues new ADA regulations later this year, the Wall Street Journal…

Mar 22, 2013 12:03 PM CDT

EEOC sues Toys ‘R’ Us, says company failed to provide interpreter for deaf job applicant

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers are required to provide reasonable accommodation to workers, unless doing so would be an undue hardship. What exactly is required, in a given case, can be open to interpretation. But for a big company like Toys “R” Us there’s virtually no question that…

Mar 20, 2013 5:22 PM CDT

Disabled man is cited for disturbing the peace by laughing too loudly

A disabled man in Rockville Centre, N.Y., says he has learned to laugh off a neighbor’s taunts about his neurological impairments. But that created a new problem for Robert Schiavelli, 42, who has been issued two summonses for laughing too loudly in the Long Island home he shares with his…

Mar 7, 2013 3:55 PM CST

Former hostess sues nightclub for hearing loss

A former hostess at the Lavo nightclub in Manhattan claims in a lawsuit that she suffered hearing loss as a result of its loud dance music. Margaret Clemente, who goes by the name Alexis, says she learned of hearing loss in her right ear after the New York Times tested…

Feb 28, 2013 12:46 PM CST

Did DA and defense lawyer use ‘undeniably invalid order’ to commit schizophrenic man?

Apparently agreeing with a retired Oregon judge’s complaint that a sitting district attorney and a defense lawyer used an “undeniably invalid order” when committing a mentally ill man to the state hospital for treatment, bar authorities have filed a legal ethics complaint. Describing the issue a little differently than retired…

Feb 6, 2013 4:20 PM CST

Womble Carlyle is sued by EEOC over alleged 75-pound lifting requirement

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice on behalf of a former office assistant who claims disability discrimination over a lifting requirement. The suit (PDF) filed on behalf of Charlesetta Jennings says she suffered from a chronic swelling condition known as lymphedema as a result…

Jan 18, 2013 3:47 PM CST

Teacher with child phobia sues school for disability discrimination, says she was forced to retire

A high school French teacher in Ohio has sued her district, contending that her reassignment to a school that has elementary students constituted disability discrimination because she has a phobic fear of young children. Maria C. Waltherr-Willard, 61, had taught for decades in the Mariemont School District, which allegedly accommodated…

Jan 15, 2013 8:06 PM CST

Providing Interpreter for Deaf Lifeguard May Not Be Unreasonable Accommodation, 6th Circuit Says

Updated: An Americans with Disabilities Act case involving a deaf Michigan man denied a lifeguard position because he needed an sign language interpreter was reinstated Thursday in the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Nicholas Keith, who has been deaf since birth, passed the Oakland County lifeguard training course…

Jan 11, 2013 6:45 PM CST

University to Pay $50K to Settle Claim Student Meals Without Food-Allergy Options Violated ADA

There’s no word on whether some Lesley University students with food allergies might be headed to law school. But they’ve clearly demonstrated an aptitude for for legal issues by spearheading an unusual civil rights case pursued as an administrative complaint by the U.S. Department of Justice. It resulted in a…

Jan 10, 2013 10:11 PM CST

Debt Collection Law Firm Settles with DOJ over Alleged Bias Against Deaf Persons

A Maryland law firm has agreed to pay $30,000 to resolve allegations that it discriminated against deaf people in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Peroutka & Peroutka, a debt collection law firm in Pasadena, Md., reached the agreement with the U.S. Justice Department, according to a press release.…

Jan 4, 2013 6:04 PM CST

A Question of Education: For Some Parents, Shock Treatments Are Only Hope for Helping Their Kids

Jan 1, 2013 9:30 AM CST

Texas Lawyer Gets 46 Months re $2.3M Scam of 46 Disabled Veterans

Rejecting an argument by prosecutors that a Texas lawyer should get harsher punishment than his wife for scamming disabled veterans of $2.3 million, because he had fiduciary responsibilities as their guardian, a federal judge on Wednesday gave Joe B. Phillips, 73, exactly the same sentence: 46 months. His 72-year-old wife,…

Dec 21, 2012 6:18 PM CST

Colo. Judge Tells County Gov’t to Fix Courthouse Elevator, Threatens Contempt Sanctions

A Colorado judge has ordered the Huerfano County board of commissioners to fix a nonworking elevator that makes the courthouse more or less inaccessible to the handicapped. If the elevator is not fixed by Jan. 2, 2013, or other measures are not taken by then to put the courthouse in…

Dec 17, 2012 10:21 PM CST