The court has now set a status conference for June 20 to begin the next phase of determining the changes it will order LACCD to implement to ensure its compliance with the ADA going forward.
LOS ANGELES – Brown, Goldstein & Levy attorneys Jessie Weber, Kevin Docherty, Monica Basche, and Sharon Krevor-Weisbaum have secured a major victory with the help of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and NFB of California on behalf of two blind students, Portia Mason and Roy Payan, who were deprived an equal educational opportunity, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), by the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) – the largest community college system in the nation.
A jury found that LACCD violated the ADA in 14 different ways and, in most cases, did so with deliberate indifference. The jury awarded the plaintiffs over $240,000 in damages. Many blind students and advocates attended the trial in support. While attending LACCD between 2015 and 2018, Ms. Mason and Mr. Payan experienced accessibility barriers in all aspects of their education: they were shut out of the school’s websites, course materials, web-based learning platforms, library resources, and more. Professors even told Mr. Payan that he could not stay in their classes because he is blind.
Ms. Mason, Mr. Payan, the NFB, and the NFB of California—represented by Brown, Goldstein & Levy and Patricia Barbosa—filed this lawsuit in 2017 and won two trials in 2019, which LACCD appealed. In 2021, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the college’s appeal, ruling that individuals with disabilities have the right to sue schools and colleges over policies and practices that have a discriminatory effect, regardless of whether discrimination was intentional. The Ninth Circuit then remanded the case for a retrial so that all issues could be decided by a jury.
Mark Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: “The National Federation of the Blind is committed to working collaboratively with educational institutions to help them create an accessible and inclusive environment. At the same time, we will fight for as long as it takes to vindicate the rights of blind students in court when institutions are unwilling to take advantage of available resources and the lived experience of blind people to guide them in meeting their legal and moral obligations. We thank the jurors in this case for recognizing the harm that was done to these students, and we are proud to have supported their fight for justice. It is long past time for institutions of higher education to lead the way in collaboration with the disability community rather than to perpetuate the history of low expectations that hold blind students back.”
“This moment has been a long time in coming, and I am so grateful to the supporters and to the legal team that have brought us here,” said Portia Mason. “I know that this team will continue to put its best efforts behind our cause in any further proceedings.”
“My grateful thanks for an amazing legal team from Brown Goldstein & Levy and Patricia Barbosa from the Barbosa Group,” said Roy Payan. “This win is not so much a win just for Portia and me, but for all those students who will continue to come after us who may be too afraid, timid, or intimidated by threats from the institutions to advocate for themselves. We follow in the footsteps of Robert F. Kennedy when he said, ‘There are those who look at things the way they are and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?’ I see a world where I won’t have to beg for the accommodations I deserve, where I am provided the freedom of independence all others enjoy.”
“We are grateful that the jury held LACCD accountable for failing to provide an equal educational opportunity to blind students,” said BGL partner Jessie Weber. “We hope other institutions of higher learning will take heed: failing to ensure accessibility — including by maintaining inaccessible websites and educational resources—is unlawful discrimination.”
The court has now set a status conference for June 20 to begin the next phase of determining the changes it will order LACCD to implement to ensure its compliance with the ADA going forward.
About Brown Goldstein & Levy, LLP
Founded in 1982, Brown, Goldstein & Levy is a law firm based in Baltimore, Maryland, with an office in Washington, DC. The firm is nationally recognized in a wide variety of practice areas, including complex civil and commercial litigation, civil rights, health care, family law, and criminal defense. Above all else, Brown, Goldstein & Levy is a client-centered law firm that brings decades of experience and passionate, effective advocacy to your fight for justice.
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