Do the broken elevators in the NYC subway system violate the disability discrimination laws?

This class-action involves broken down elevators in the New York City transit system. A disability-rights groups sues the Metropolitan Transit Authority for disability discrimination because the broken elevators make it nearly impossible for some transit passengers to make it through the city. The Court of Appeals (Jacobs, Cabranes and Menashi) vacates summary judgment in favor of the MTA and remands the case to see if the MTA was providing the disabled plaintiffs a reasonable accommodation.

The case is Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled v. Metropolitan Transit Authority, issued on August 23. While the vast majority of elevators are usually in working order, many are not, and commuters may encounter outages 8 to 15 percent of the time. This causes great inconvenience for commuters, since a single elevator is all there is at some stations, and many stations lack an elevator to begin with. Since most elevator outages are unplanned, it takes time to fix them. All of this will greatly affect the commutes for disabled transit users, as the outages are not isolated or temporary. 

After rejecting the Transit Authority's argument that the court lacks authority over the case because the court should not "become an elevator-repair watchdog," the court gets to the real issues, rejecting the MTA's argument that there is no disability discrimination because the system as a whole, including subways, buses and paratransit, is fully accessible. On a summary judgment motion, the "big-picture" defense will not always work.

But the district court, in granting summary judgment to the MTA, did not consider whether the transit system provides reasonable accommodations to disabled passengers who cannot use the subway because of the broken elevators. The court notes there are other ways to get around the city, including buses, to which the MTA can refer the public when the subways are not working. But the Court of Appeals cannot on this record determine whether the bus system is a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act and federal regulations. One issue is whether the MTA provides the public with reasonable notice of the bus alternatives when the elevators are broken, i.e. proper signage and proper advance notice of the elevator malfunctions. Back to the district court does this case go.

Labels: