ADA suits against states struck down- what's next?

Justin Schwartz jkschw at hotmail.com
Sun Feb 25 17:06:08 PST 2001



>
>I don't see many lawyers being willing to take on an ADA
>employment discrimination case for injunctive relief without
>being able to get damages in the form of back pay, etc.. I mean
>where is the money for them? And where is the incentive for
>disabled person with no paycheck in the mail to pursue the
>possibility of a rare win of injunctive relief that could take
>years to get to court?
>

The money for the lawyers in in section 1988, the attorney fee shifting provision for civil rights cases. Normally, win _any_ substantial relief, you get your attorney's fees. That can be a lot more than the actual damages. I have dealt with lots of cases like that. There is less incentive for a disabled person to sue, but you can still get (a) reinstatement, (b) front pay, (c) compliance, (c) reasonable accomodation orders, basically anything but back pay and probably not punitive damages any more. So it's bad, but not hopeless. Btw, the case leaves untouched the kinds of lawsuits for ramps, etc. at public buildings that are the heart of Title II of the ADA, at laest if we leave aside that nasty sentence that you quoted.

--jks _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list