Today, the firm of Peiffer Wolf Carr & Kane filed a petition for certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of a disabled man who was denied relief in federal district court. You can find the petition here.
John Doe was placed in solitary confinement at a local jail because he is HIV-positive. He had the misfortune of needing to file the case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, which is the only appellate court in the country that requires disability to be the “sole cause” of conduct challenged under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
“Mr. Doe would have prevailed if he could have filed in any other court,” said Peiffer Wolf Carr & Kane partner Adam Wolf. But because of different ADA standards in the Tenth Circuit, he lost at trial. Mr. Wolf added: “Hopefully the Supreme Court will take Mr. Doe’s case and create a uniform ADA standard throughout the country. Disabled plaintiffs in the Tenth Circuit are currently fighting an unwinnable battle, and the Tenth Circuit has refused to bring its standard in line with all other federal appellate courts.”