For Sheppard Mullin Pro Bono Team, Three Big Disability Rights Wins in One Day
Sheppard Mullin pro bono partner Daniel Brown had to hit the door with a little extra pep before the Labor Day weekend.
On Friday, Brown got word of three big wins in cases he and dozens of lawyers at the firm have been handling alongside disability rights attorneys—including developments in two long-running cases in New York involving the city’s taxis and subways.
“I've certainly never had three decisions that hopefully will lead to increased accessibility and inclusion come out on the same day,” said Brown when we caught up with him yesterday. Brown’s brother became a wheelchair user about 35 years ago after a spinal cord injury. Brown has focused his own pro bono efforts on accessibility issues—including cases ensuring that wheelchair racers are treated fairly during the New York City Marathon and that the city takes adequate steps to help those with disabilities during citywide emergencies. Brown, who became Sheppard Mullin’s first dedicated pro bono partner in 2020, says accessibility has been “the heart and soul of my legal work over the course of my career.” He said the firm’s recent string of wins demonstrates “the power of pro bono work” more broadly.
“There's such a need and opportunity,” he said. “Disability is my passion, but there's a need, as we all know, in so many communities that lack access to justice.”
In the taxi case, U.S. District Judge George Daniels granted a motion to enforce the terms of a 2014 settlement agreement the firm and its co-counsel at Disability Rights Advocates reached with the city and its taxi commission. As part of the deal, the defendants agreed to make 50% of the city’s Yellow Cab taxi fleet accessible to those with disabilities by 2020. The deadline was extended to 2023 but still came and went.
Defendants argued that COVID-19 and the rise of competition from ride-sharing companies Uber and Lyft caused the value of taxi medallions to plummet, making implementing the settlement impossible. But Daniels last week wrote that the city’s approach showed “a lack of will and creative solution.” The judge ordered that 100% of all new Yellow Cab taxis be accessible until the fleet reaches the agreed-upon 50% threshold. Brown said he was particularly proud that Sheppard Mullin associate Damani Sims argued the motion to enforce.
The second win came in a case concerning the accessibility of the city’s subway system, another matter Sheppard Mullin is handling alongside Disability Rights Advocates. The Metropolitan Transit Authority agreed last year to make improvements to 95% of the city’s 364 then-inaccessible subway stations by 2055. Those settlements left pending another case involving elevator maintenance issues at the 123 stations the MTA has designated “ADA-accessible.” Last week Daniels, who is also overseeing the subway case, denied the MTA’s motion for summary judgment. The judge found triable issues of fact over the adequacy and accuracy of the system meant to notify users about elevator outages.
Last week’s third win came in a case in Oregon where the firm is working alongside the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Oregon and Disability Rights Oregon. That lawsuit targets officials in Washington County, Oregon with claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 tied to the practice of sending armed police to respond to mental health emergencies instead of trained health care professionals.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie F. Beckerman in Portland last week recommended that a district court deny the defendants’ motion to dismiss. Beckerman held that the plaintiffs “plausibly alleged that, but for a disability, people suffering from a mental health crisis would receive meaningful access to the benefit and that they were denied meaningful access to a benefit solely by reason of disability.”
Brown said that it was particularly gratifying that the decision in the Oregon case cited precedent established during his earlier work in the New York emergency preparedness case. Brown noted that his brother’s spinal cord injury occurred in 1989, just before the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. He said his brother’s injury caused him to look at accessibility issues in a new light. “Those early years, particularly in New York City, I refer to them as the dark years of disability rights,” Brown said. “It was such a different place: the curb cuts weren't accessible.”
“Nothing makes me prouder than my brother being able to visit here and get a taxi,” Brown said. “It's amazing.”
