Civil Rights: No Qualified Immunity for ADA Discrimination in Prisons

Plaintiff was a state prisoner who alleged that prison officials discriminated against him on the basis of his hearing disability in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C.§ 12131, and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C.§ 794. The District Court denied Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment based on qualified immunity. To defeat such a motion, Plaintiff had to establish that the allegations in the Complaint state a claim for a violation of "clearly established law." Defendant's contended that at the time of the alleged discrimination it was not "clearly established" that the ADA applied to prisoners. The Court rejected the argument, finding that the plain language of the statutes, as well as the regulations promulgated under them, indicate that the statutes apply to prisoners. The Court rejected the argument that the applicability of the Acts was not established simply because there had been no published decision from either the Supreme Court or the Sixth Circuit declaring that the Acts apply to state prisons. The Court canvassed other circuits and found that the majority of courts to consider the issue, both before and after the time of the alleged misconduct in this case, have either explicitly or implicitly held that the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act apply to prisoners.

David G. Key v. Henry Grayson, et al., Civ. No. 96-40166, E.D. Mich., 3/16/98, Gadola, J. This article was prepared by Mark A. Goldsmith, a partner in our Litigation Department, was appeared in the July, 1998 edition of the Michigan Bar Journal.