Through a records request, OnPoint News has established that the City of Detroit agreed to pay $100,000 and promised a change in policies to settle Susan McBride’s case claiming sensitivity to co-worker’s scents. Earlier here, etc.
Posts Tagged ‘disabled rights’
Update: judge dismisses vision-impaired gamer’s suit against Sony
A California federal judge has dismissed Alexander Stern’s case against the Japanese entertainment company, ruling that online multiplayer games such as EverQuest, unlike bricks-and-mortar establishments, are not “places of public accommodation” under the Americans with Disabilities Act [OnPoint News, opinion in PDF courtesy OnPoint, earlier here and here] (& Darleen Click, Protein Wisdom)
February 15 roundup
- “U.S. Still Won’t Join International Criminal Court” [Julian Ku, Opinio Juris via Adler] International jurisdiction is a bit of a crime in itself [Stuttaford, NRO “Corner”]
- “Tourette’s Sufferer Sues Starbucks for Discrimination” [Seattle Weekly]
- Colorado: “Science Fair Bans Most Science” [Free-Range Kids]
- For best results in lawsuit against “Girls Gone Wild” producer, it helps not to have made X-rated films [OnPoint News]
- New Mexico revolt against Feds’ takeover of community bank [Bank Lawyer’s Blog, more]
- Citizen’s United decision continued: “Yes, money is speech” [Rick Esenberg, Point of Law] “When Individuals Form Corporations, They Don’t Lose Their Rights” [Ilya Shapiro, Cato at Liberty]
- Thomas Lenard and Paul Rubin, “In Defense of Data: Information and the Costs of Privacy” [SSRN last year]
- Sex-harassment charge against six-year-old boy will cost Brockton, Mass. taxpayers $180,000 [Brockton Enterprise]
“Obese woman wins human rights fight for parking spot”
Obesity-as-disability in Canada: “Marise Myrand said her condo association discriminated against her by denying her a parking spot closer to her building entrance.” She’s now won a favorable ruling from the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal and a $10,000 settlement. [The Globe and Mail, h/t reader Vicky G.]
“Proposed Changes to Psychiatric Manual Stir Lawsuit Fears”
“The American Psychiatric Association wants binge eating and excess gambling to be considered psychiatric disorders. … Lawyers have plenty to say about the proposed disorders, which, some argue, could open up the door for yet more disability suits in the workplace.” [Tresa Baldas, NLJ]
By reader acclaim: great moments in “targeted disabilities”
The federal government is seeking applicants who are mentally ill, mentally retarded or both to work as lawyers in the Justice Department. Specifically, a job announcement for “up to 10 experienced attorneys for the position of Trial Attorney in the Voting Section in Washington, D.C.” contains the following language:
The Civil Rights Division encourages qualified applicants with targeted disabilities to apply. Targeted disabilities are deafness, blindness, missing extremities, partial or complete paralysis, convulsive disorder, mental retardation, mental illness, severe distortion of limbs and/or spine. Applicants who meet the qualification requirements and are able to perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation are encouraged to identify targeted disabilities in response to the questions in the Avue application system seeking that information.
[via Eugene Volokh and many others]
Better uses for the $2,000
On Martha’s Vineyard, the town of Chilmark, Mass. would rather not spend $2,000 per election cycle on federally mandated technology to help its one visually impaired voter. In the past the town has offered voters with poor or no eyesight a range of less costly choices including large print ballots and their choice of a person to read the ballot to them. [Megan Dooley, Vineyard Gazette via Ira Stoll, Future of Capitalism]
A thought on Apple’s iPad
If, as Tyler Cowen suggests, the key market objective of the iPad is to obtain significant university adoption as a replacement for the paper textbook, one wonders how Apple’s lawyers are planning to handle the inevitable litigation from disabled-rights advocates.
Update: Kindle not helpful enough to blind users
“Two organizations representing the blind have settled a discrimination lawsuit against Arizona State University over its use of Amazon’s Kindle e-reader device. … The university, which denies the pilot program violates any law, agreed that if it does decide to use e-book readers in future classes over the next two years, ‘it will strive to use devices that are accessible to the blind,’ according to their joint statement.” [AP/ABC News; earlier] Related: Berin Szoka, “An Internet for everyone” [L.A. Times/City Journal]
Penn & Teller on the ADA
A 2007 show, with discussion of a mass ADA filing operation at about the 4:45 mark:
More via Twitter: “I had a client lose their business partly due to an ADA claim.” (Julian, California, near San Diego).