Access Paratransit
Case Type: Advocacy, Negotiation, Litigation
Commitment Level: 1-3 attorneys
Deadlines: None; Demand letter desired within 30 days
Paratransit is a Los Angeles County-operated lifeline transportation system for people with disabilities who cannot use bus or rail. Thousands of eligible riders depend on paratransit to attend school, appointments, social events, and anything else that requires transportation. When the system breaks down, riders are left standing on street corners, sometimes for hours, or must endure three- to four-hour shared rides that should take one hour.
Various organizations have approached DRLC to advocate on behalf of riders who are frequently left behind, denied rides, or taken on excessively long shared rides. The toll of this partly broken system includes missed classes, appointments, dates, and other everyday life events that many take for granted.
DRLC is seeking a law firm to assist in working up an advocacy strategy, possibly including litigation, to ensure the system meets its legal obligation of being truly “comparable to” fixed route systems, thereby improving riders’ lives tremendously.
Ontario International Airport
Case Type: Advocacy, Negotiation, Litigation
Commitment Level: 1-2 attorneys
Deadlines: None; Demand letter desired within 30 days
Airports can be frustrating for everyone. But to be repeatedly late for flights because the airport’s shuttle service is inaccessible to you would be intolerable. For many travelers, various aspects of the airport experience are inaccessible, leaving many reliant on a representative for assistance when the law requires the airport to be fully accessible.
Ontario International Airport has not implemented its accessibility plan, and its operations are all too frequently inaccessible to people with disabilities, particularly those who use a wheelchair.
For this case, a law firm would assist in a structured negotiation with the airport, and in litigation if necessary, to bring the airport into compliance with applicable law and ensure it is accessible and usable by all passengers.
Portland Police Dept. & Department of Homeland Security
Case Type: Advocacy, Negotiation, Litigation
Commitment Level: 1-3 attorneys
Deadlines: Demand letter and/or complaint desired within 45 days with motion for preliminary injunction to be filed concurrently with complaint or to follow shortly thereafter.
Our potential plaintiff, who is Deaf, is among the many protesters exercising their rights in the streets of Portland, OR. Like many others who are deaf or hard of hearing, he was shot with tear gas canisters, all because he did not know that a crowd dispersal order had been issued. Like many other police departments, Portland PD does not use visual methods to declare an unlawful assembly before dispersing crowds, subjecting people who are deaf or hard of hearing to an increased and needless risk of use of force and arrest.
This case explores the obligations of police to anticipate common disabilities and provide alternative communication methods and other accommodations to ensure that crowds fully comprehend police orders, thereby reducing the probability of harm.