Disability Law

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

Woman sues P.F. Chang’s, says restaurant’s higher prices for gluten-free food violate ADA

Corrected: A California woman is suing an Arizona-based restaurant chain over the surcharges it imposes for gluten-free menu items. The additional $1 charged by P.F. Chang’s China Bistro Inc. for gluten-free items violates the the Americans with Disabilities Act, the suit contends> It points out that many who order them…

Feb 9, 2015 3:55 PM CST

How many therapy ducks are too many? Veteran with PTSD and 6 ducks appeals

A former Ohio National Guardsman who served in Iraq and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression is appealing his October municipal-court conviction for keeping registered therapy ducks. Darin Welker, who had 14 ducks at his West Lafayette, Ohio, home when he was cited in June, says the therapy…

Feb 5, 2015 12:00 PM CST

People with disabilities want the Internet to be more accessible

When Donna Hill self-published a book, The Heart of Applebutter Hill, in May 2013, she arranged for it to be distributed on electronic platforms, including Scribd, an online service that hosts digital books and other online documents, including court rulings. But when the legally blind 64-year-old author tried to use…

Feb 1, 2015 3:00 AM CST

Gender identity disorder should be protected by ADA, transgender plaintiff argues

Can a transgendered individual sue for workplace discrimination? Yes, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said last year, and the question of whether gender identity disorder should be covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act is currently being litigated in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania U.S. District Court. Lawyers for…

Jan 21, 2015 4:30 PM CST

Drug-court judge resigns after ethics commission calls for her removal over alcohol-related conduct

A Florida drug court judge resigned on Tuesday, following a call by the state Judicial Qualifications Commission on Monday for her removal from the bench. Sober for nearly 20 years, Broward County Judge Gisele Pollack relapsed in 2013 after her mother’s death. She had been elected in 2004, and had…

Jan 7, 2015 10:10 AM CST