Disability Discrimination

Although she taught a standard half-hour religion course each day, a fifth-grade teacher at a Catholic school was not a “minister” and so could sue the school for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by firing her after it learned she was diagnosed with cancer. Read More

Blind plaintiff alleged a viable claim for disability discrimination when he claimed that defendants’ aggressive unleashed guard dog attacked his seeing-eye dog on a public sidewalk outside their business establishment. Read More

Blind plaintiff alleged a viable claim for disability discrimination when he claimed that defendants’ aggressive unleashed guard dog attacked his seeing-eye dog on a public sidewalk outside their business establishment. Read More

Under the 2008 amendment to the Americans with Disabilities Act, it is no longer necessary for an employee to show that his perceived disability limited or was perceived to limit a major life activity in order to show evidence of “disability”; all that the employee need plead or prove is that the employer regarded him as physically or mentally impaired. Read More

An employer cannot require a disabled job applicant to submit to additional medical tests at his own expense as a condition of employment. Read More

There is no private right of action for violation of the Air Carrier Access Act of 1986, 49 U.S.C. § 41705, which prohibits air carriers from discriminating against individuals on the basis of a physical or mental impairment, although the Department of Transportation has authority to enforce the Act. Read More

Merchants are not required to design their parking lots in such a way that disabled patrons may access their stores without traveling behind parked cars. Read More

Attorney fees in Americans with Disabilities Act litigation are to be calculated using the lodestar method. Read More

A government employer must make reasonable accommodations for a disabled worker and engage in an interactive process with the worker to reach that accommodation, and in this instance the employer failed to comply when it gave a probationary employee medical leave but did not tell her the leave would result in her automatic termination because she would not be available… Read More

A fully trained service dog must be accommodated under federal law and Civil Code § 51; a service dog in training must also be accommodated under Civil Code §§ 54, 54.1, but only if accompanied by the disabled person, or a person licensed or otherwise qualified to train the dog.   Read More

Disabled plaintiff has Article III standing for his lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act so long as he alleges he was deterred from using defendant’s facilities because of its failure to make suitable accommodations for disabled persons; he need not have actually visited the facility and been turned away.   Read More

Disabled plaintiff stated a viable claim for violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act against a used car dealership, based on its refusal to accommodate his need for the temporary installation of hand controls for the brake and accelerator so plaintiff could test-drive a car he was considering buying.  Read More

District court erred in dismissing plaintiff’s employment discrimination suit even though it had become moot, since plaintiff could still receive nominal damages and have his dignity interest vindicated even though he no longer worked for employer.  Read More

Under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, public entities are required to make public rights-of-way, pools, libraries, parks, and recreational facilities readily accessible to and useable by mobility impaired persons.  Read More

Nothing in the Americans with Disabilities Act or the Rehabilitation Act preempts a city's express indemnity claim against its architect and building contractor; although the city cannot escape its responsibilities under those acts, it may recoup from those whose errors caused the violations. Read More