The Federal Courts and Disability Rights

Abstract

In this article, the author presents an empirical analysis of litigation under Title III of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, the section of the law prohibiting discrimination in public accommodations on the basis of disability. It represents the first systematic examination of all 247 reported federal district and appellate court decisions through December 2001 in which the court adjudicated a Title III claim. Reporting on the outcome of the litigation, the author assesses the degree to which the federal courts have helped effectuate the remedial purposes of the law by advancing the U.S. Congress's stated aim of guaranteeing the civil rights of people with disabilities in public accommodations. The analysis revealed that defendants succeeded in more than half the rulings in these cases (prevailing in 55% of the Title III decisions overall), with their success varying according to the type of claim and the level of the court deciding the case. The U.S. Supreme Court has not played a major role in providing guidance to the lower courts in adjudicating Title III cases, handing down only two Title III decisions, with neither addressing a major point of contention in the lower federal courts or resolving a widespread conflict among the circuits. The author concludes that the judiciary's constrained interpretation of the Act, based in part on Congress's decision to limit Title III remedies to injunctive relief only, accounted for a significant number of the defendants' legal victories.