Turner v. Association of American Medical Colleges

Turner v. Association of American Medical Colleges

Public Justice joined other public interest groups in an amici brief to the California Court of Appeal, arguing that the court should reject the defendant’s request for a “prevailing party” fee award of $1.6 million that would have bankrupted the plaintiffs in a disability rights case.  The plaintiffs, who won at trial but lost on appeal, were students with learning disabilities and two disability-rights organizations who sought reasonable accommodations for taking the MCAT.  Amici argued that granting the defendant’s request for a fee award would undermine the enforcement of civil rights laws.
 
The California Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s decision denying the fee request on March 24, 2011.
 
The amici brief was written by Paula Pearlman of the Disability Rights Legal Center and Peter Roan and Jade Chien of Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP, on behalf of Public Justice, the Disability Rights Legal Center, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, Inc., and the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center.