FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, May 19, 2022
CONTACT
Christopher Knauf, Esq., Disability Rights Legal Center
(213) 736-1031 x1195; ck@drlcenter.org
Los Angeles, California – Late Tuesday, the Disability Rights Legal Center (“DRLC”) and Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP secured a $400,000 judgment on behalf of Lindsay Rogers, who attended Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California (“Western”) and alleged that the university failed to properly accommodate her learning disabilities.
The judgment, entered into the federal US district court record as part of a settlement between the parties, ends a litigation filed in 2016, following Rogers’ experience at Western in 2014 and 2015. The lawsuit alleged that Rogers experienced numerous failures by Western to provide disability accommodations that she had received at other academic institutions. Rogers intended to receive a doctorate in osteopathy to help provide medical care in poor and rural communities.
“This settlement vindicates Lindsay Rogers’ claims that Western University should have accommodated her disabilities. Cases like this are central to DRLC’s mission of working to ensure that people with disabilities are provided appropriate accommodations,” said Joseph Lee of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, co-counsel in the litigation and President of DRLC’s Board of Directors.
“I am grateful to the attorneys at DRLC and Munger Tolles for their work on my behalf over these many years. Nothing can ever make whole what I went through,” said Ms. Rogers, “but I am very pleased with the result and I’m happy to move on with my life.”
“Ms. Rogers contacted my office more than six years ago, and we fought this case up to the Ninth Circuit and back. I am very happy she has a settlement that reflects the significant efforts our team put into her case,” added Christopher Knauf, DRLC’s Director of Litigation.
Ms. Rogers was represented by Munger Tolles attorneys Joseph Lee and Rowley Rice, supported by paralegals Justin Wilson and Peter Del Valle; the DRLC team included Alexandra Robertson, Leslie Rous, Justin Reissman, Corrigan Lewis, and Erika Cervantes.
For more information about this case, view the following documents:
- PRESS RELEASE (PDF)
- FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES, DECLARATORY & INJUNCTIVE RELIEF; DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL (PDF)
- ORDER DIRECTING ENTRY OF JUDGMENT PURSUANT TO FRCP 68 (PDF)
About Disability Rights Legal Center
Founded in 1975, the Disability Rights Legal Center is the nation’s oldest national non-profit public interest cross disability law center. The organization’s mission is to champion the rights of people with disabilities through education, advocacy and litigation. thedrlc.org
About Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP
For 60 years, Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP attorneys have been partnering with clients on their most important and complex cases and deals. Munger Tolles has been consistently ranked at or near the top of The American Lawyer’s A-List, an annual ranking of the nation’s elite law firms on the basis of financial strength, diversity, pro bono work and attorney satisfaction. mto.com
