Attorney Given Accommodation for Impairment (MORE ADA NONSENSE)

New York Law Journal ^ | 11/27/02 | By John Caher

[Behind Liberal Lines]

An upstate New York judge has held for the first time that the courts must reasonably accommodate a visually impaired attorney who breached the time restrictions for submitting a judgment.

State Supreme Court Justice Robert F. Julian said the requirement under 22 NYCRR § 200.48 that mandates submission of a judgment within 60 days and deems the order abandoned if the time limit is missed can be waived because of an attorney's handicap. It is the first decision in the state to hold that the time restriction can be lifted to accommodate a physical disability.

The decision arose in the case of Spinella v. Town of Paris Zoning Board of Appeals, 02-00428. After the petitioner's counsel, Norman P. Deep of Clinton, Oneida County, failed to submit a proposed judgment within the 60 days required, the respondents moved to dismiss the petition as abandoned. In response, Deep, who has a disability as defined under the Americans With Disabilities Act, requested a reasonable accommodation.

Deep noted that he was accommodated with 37 readers and several recorders while attending Syracuse University Law School, was granted four days rather than two to complete the bar exam and is routinely provided by state and federal courts with twice the usual time to respond to motions and orders. He explained that he was late submitting a judgment in this case because he had lost his longtime secretary.

Justice Julian found no precedent for extending the time limits in 202.48. What he did find was a line of cases providing direction on the accommodations that should be extended to handicapped jurors and jurists. Finding that the "courtroom and court system constitute the trial lawyer's workplace," and that the workplace "logically extends to the preparation of documents associated with litigation," Justice Julian held that Deep is owed an accommodation.

"If petitioner's counsel was given reasonable accommodation in terms of extended time limits to take the bar exam or law school examinations, similar accommodation should be made by this court given the discretion vested in it by the regulation," Justice Julian wrote. "The court finds that the accommodation sought in this case helps petitioner's counsel perform the essential functions of his profession and is not personal to him. The accommodation sought is not unreasonable and does not impose an undue hardship upon the judicial system."

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Translation: The lawyer COULD HAVE done the work. Therefore, he COULD HAVE done the work in a timely manner. But we have to let him slide because he's "disabled," to the detriment of the rights of another party.

[Old Professer]

Hell, if I had 37 readers and twice the time to pass the bar exam, I could be a lawyer, too.

My guess is this nitwit lost his longtime secretary because she was hiding behind the file cabinet, playing, "Blind Man's Bluff."

[Jack Wilson]

A good site for ADA horror stories:
http://www.derer.com/ADA.htm

[Behind Liberal Lines]

The other problem with this case is that it, ultimately, hurts the client (that's you and me, people).

Either one of two things will happen if this case is allowed to stand as precedent:

(a) The disabled attorney commits malpractice someday. The client goes to sue the attorney and the attorney says "not my fault, I'm disabled." The court, citing this case, says the client is the employer and he or she should have made "reasonable accomdatons" for the incompetent attorney. The client is screwed.
(b) A situation similar to the case at hand occurs. The disabled attorney drops the ball and the opposing party says "our rights under the law (to speedy trial, etc.) were violated, we want a dismissal." The attorney says, as he did here "not my fault, I'm disabled." The court, citing this case says we must make "reasonable accomodations," and bend the rules for the disabled attorney. The other side's client is screwed.

To make matters worse, in the case at hand the "other side's clients" were the taxpayers.

This ADA is a monster that is out of control. We have to rein it in ASAP.

[cgbg]

They need to get this Judge in the NFL's Commissioner's office.

Last Sunday the New York Giants lost to the expansion Houston Texans football team. It probably killed their chance for the playoffs.

This judge certainly would have ruled that because the Giants had so many players injured that the game should have been delayed until they had enough healthy players to have a fair chance. :-(

[VRWCmember]

Your suggestion is not as far-fetched as you might think. In a recent high school football game, a player was tackled just short of the end zone with time running out. The team had no timeouts, so this would be the last play of the game, and the player was upset/disgusted that he was tackled at the one-yard line and he spiked/slammed the ball down in disgust. The ref threw a penalty flag, stopped the clock and marched off a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, but the stoppage of the clock allowed the team (which should have lost) to get its field goal unit on the field and kick a 33-yard game-winning field goal.

The losing team (which should have won) filed suit to have the last play overturned by the courts. (Don't know how it turned out.

[justshutupandtakeit]

In the last Chicago Bears Super Bowl Jim McMahon realized the clock was going to expire on the 1st half so he just had the center snap the ball to him which he downed. This resulted in a motion penalty but it stopped the clock giving Kevin Butler enough time to kick a field goal.

The NFL changed the rules after that to require 10 seconds be run off the clock for any offensive penalty at the end of a half or game if the clock was running.

That was perhaps the greatest team in the history of the NFL. No team I can think of could have beaten that defense.

[boris]

Is there anyone who does not have a "disability" under the ADA?

I myself have several; yet I seem to be able to function and earn my living...

--Boris