Maple Grove Family Gets Supreme Court Nod in Disability Lawsuit
A Maple Grove family scored a victory in the nation’s highest court this week.
The U.S. Supreme Court sided with the local family, which brought an education disability lawsuit against the Osseo Area School District.
The case was filed by the family of Ava Tharpe, a student in the Osseo Area School District with epilepsy.
She had frequent seizures in the mornings and couldn’t attend classes before noon.
The family asked the district to provide evening classes, but the district declined and offered other accommodations.
Tharpe’s family then filed a lawsuit suit, claiming the district had not provided adequate learning opportunities.
The case rose through the courts, until it was eventually argued before the Supreme Court in April.
Lower courts previously ruled that students or families claiming a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Rehabilitation Act must show they’ve suffered discrimination due to “bad faith or gross misjudgment” on the part of a school district to sue for disability discrimination.
However, the Tharpe family’s lawyers argue that this is a heightened standard that isn’t spelled out in the law.
The court unanimously agreed, striking down the higher “bad faith” standard.
With a lower standard to prove discrimination, more families may be taking their local school districts to court.
“That our decision is narrow does not diminish its import for [Tharpe] and ‘a great many children with disabilities and their parents,'” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts in the court’s decision. “Together they face daunting challenges on a daily basis. We hold today that those challenges do not include having to satisfy a more stringent standard of proof than other plaintiffs to establish discrimination under Title II of the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.”
