New York’s subway system is one of the most robust in the world. It provides nearly 1.8 billion rides every year, giving the city the highest rate of public transportation usage out of any metropolitan area in the United States. But for hundreds of thousands of disabled New Yorkers, commuting through a vast majority of the city’s subway stations is simply impossible.
The Plan, a multiemployer pension plan subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), dramatically reduced the class members’ Disability Retirement Benefits (DRB) by an average of more than 61 percent and threatened total elimination of their DRB. The 324 plaintiffs, most of whom reside in the Detroit area, filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District …
The incoming speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives said Monday he is considering whether to file a lawsuit to block an increase to the minimum wage approved by voters last month. Rep. J.D. Mesnard said the increase might run afoul of the state Constitution’s requirement that initiatives contain a funding source if they require state outlays.
Los Angeles agreed Tuesday to spend at least $200 million over a decade to provide thousands of apartments for people with disabilities. The City Council voted 12-0 to settle a federal lawsuit by several advocacy groups. They alleged the city’s redevelopment agency violated anti-discrimination laws by paying for affordable housing projects that weren’t accessible to those who …
A disability rights group is suing the state of Washington, saying it has no system for ensuring developmentally disabled adults can avoid institutional care in favor of other living arrangements. Disability Rights Washington says in the federal lawsuit this week that at least 91 developmentally disabled adults were being institutionalized against their will because the state …
Three families on Monday sued staff at a New York City group home, alleging they punched, kicked and spit on disabled residents and that state authorities knew about the abuse and did nothing for weeks. Staff at the Union Avenue IRA referred to the facility as the “Bronx zoo” and also denied residents food and botched their medical care, the federal lawsuit said. The suit, filed in Manhattan, …
More than a decade ago, Rita Gorenflo of Palm Beach Gardens signed on as a plaintiff in the class-action lawsuit against the state of Florida on behalf of nearly two million poor and disabled children on Medicaid. Through a lengthy Miami trial and the appeal of the judge’s scathing findings against the state, Gorenflo lost a son, while she raised six other adopted disabled children to …