Disability Law

Slate: Victim Who Committed Suicide in High School Bullying Case Had History of Mental Issues

A basic principle law students are taught in first-year torts class is that defendants who happen to injure a fragile plaintiff can’t point to the victim’s weakness to excuse their own negligence. And the same principle applies in criminal cases, a prosecutor in a high-profile Massachusetts student-bullying case tells the…

Jul 22, 2010 10:17 PM CDT

Maternity Leaves are Derailing Otherwise A-OK Mortgage Applications

By law, at least as the real estate industry understands the rules, a mortgage lender can’t ask a woman if she’s pregnant. But it can inquire whether her income is about to change, and if that change is for a three-month maternity leave a growing number of lenders will refuse…

Jul 19, 2010 11:42 PM CDT

Suit Claims School District Violated ADA with Arrest of 8-Year-Old Girl

The parents of child with Asperger’s syndrome have filed suit against her northern Idaho school district and the sheriff’s department for the arrest of their daughter in the third grade. Spring Towry and Charles Towry claim a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act in their suit, filed in federal…

Jul 13, 2010 2:14 PM CDT

Solo Lawyer & Office Manager Wife Accused of Stealing $2M From Guardianship Clients

A 71-year-old solo practitioner in Texas and his 70-year-old office manager and wife are facing a 26-count federal indictment for allegedly stealing more than $2 million from the accounts of disabled military veterans for whom he served as a guardian. Joe Phillips, who practices in Houston, and his wife, Dorothy,…

Jun 30, 2010 9:00 PM CDT

4 Law Schools Named in Suit By Blind Advocacy Group Over LSAC’s Online Law School Applications

Four law schools have been added as defendants in a California lawsuit filed last year by a blind advocacy group against the Law School Admissions Council. The amended complaint filed last week contends that the University of California Hastings College of the Law, Chapman University School of Law, Thomas Jefferson…

Jun 15, 2010 12:51 PM CDT

Blind Law Grads Sue Over Denied Use of Screen-Access Software on Multistate Bar Exam

All through law school, three new graduates seeking to become members of the Maryland bar used specialized software to help them read text on their computer screens. But now they are being told that they can’t use the software when they take the Multistate Bar Examination in Maryland next month,…

Jun 3, 2010 1:06 AM CDT

Songwriter Nearly Depletes Savings Fighting to Regain Legal Control of His Life

A Nashville songwriter declared mentally disabled in October 2007 and committed to a psychiatric ward has regained legal control of his affairs after an expensive battle. Songwriter Danny Tate didn’t have a lawyer and he wasn’t in court when Judge Randy Kennedy first found him disabled because of his drug…

May 28, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

Calif. DOJ Among Agencies Sued for Alleged Discrimination Against Deaf Workers

Updated: The state department of justice is among the defendants in a lawsuit alleging that California agencies are discriminating against deaf workers by not providing them with required sign-language interpreters. Deaf workers are excluded from participation in meetings and other work activities as a result, the suit alleges, and have…

May 21, 2010 7:23 PM CDT

Clash of Rights over an Allergy-Detecting Dog Leads to EEOC Complaint

The rights of an employee who uses an allergy-detection dog are at odds with those of another worker with asthma in a complaint pending with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Emily Kysel brought her specially trained, $10,000 golden-retriever to work at the city of Indianapolis until a co-worker reacted to…

May 14, 2010 11:15 AM CDT

Parents of Woman Disabled in Childbirth Can Help Her Sue to Visit Triplets, Judge Says

The parents of a woman who was severely disabled as a result of giving birth to triplets can help her sue to win the right to visit her children, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge has ruled. Abbie Dorn, 34, who now lives with her parents in South Carolina, communicates…

Apr 22, 2010 12:06 AM CDT

Woman Severely Disabled After Childbirth Seeks Visitation With Her Triplets

A disastrous series of childbirth issues that left Abbie Dorn in what some describe as a vegetative state with no possibility of recovery has now moved on, legally, from the $33 million malpractice settlement with which her parents are funding a $33,000-a-month rehabilitation program that they say has achieved significant…

Apr 12, 2010 11:28 PM CDT

Now Practicing Law, 2 Ex-NFL Players Have Won Some $100M in Football-Related Worker’s Comp Awards

An unusually liberal worker’s compensation system in California, as far as professional athletes are concerned, made the New York Times this week when the wife of former National Football League player Ralph Wenzel filed an apparently unique test case over early-onset dementia that she contends is related to her 67-year-old…

Apr 8, 2010 12:07 AM CDT

No Food Stamps for Service Dog, But His Disabled Owner May Now Have a Lawyer

A service dog doesn’t qualify for food stamps, a Pennsylvania court has ruled, because he isn’t human. But the animal’s disabled owner, James Douris, may not have to argue the legal issue on his own much longer. Although he lost a pro se Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court case arguing that the…

Apr 7, 2010 7:24 PM CDT

Who Let the Dogs In?

Non-visually impaired kids are bringing their aide dogs to class

Apr 1, 2010 7:30 AM CDT

Service Animals Now Welcome at Office of Lawyer Sued for Banning Dog

A Colorado lawyer will pay $50,000 and his law firm will post a “Service Animals Welcome” sign to settle a Justice Department complaint that he refused to allow a brain-damaged woman to bring her service dog to a deposition at his offices. Attorney Patric LeHouillier of Colorado Springs will also…

Mar 31, 2010 12:08 PM CDT