3. What We’re About
CREEC is a membership organization that
has the goal of ensuring that everyone can
fully and independently participate in our
nation’s civic life without discrimination
based on race, gender, disability, religion,
national origin, sexual orientation, or
gender identity.
10. Early Cases
Timpte next contends that the noose and doll incident is insufficient to create a
triable issue of fact regarding a hostile environment at Timpte because there is
no evidence that the incident was racially motivated. Timpte may make that
astonishing argument to a jury. In light of the undisputed fact that a nude Black
doll -- as opposed to a doll of some other race -- was found hanging from a
noose in the locker of an African-American man, it would not require a jury to
make a herculean leap of logic to conclude that the noose and doll incident was
racially motivated.
Gooden v. Timpte, Inc., 2000 WL 34507333, at *11 (D. Colo. June 29, 2000)
11. Early Cases
Shopping is one of the great American pastimes. People browse
in shops and shopping areas, see what is available and make
purchases if something catches their fancy. There simply is no
requirement in the ADA that a person desiring entrance into a
place of public accommodation have a specific desire to make a
purchase at that particular business, as defendants' arguments
intimate.
Colorado Cross Disability Coal. v. Hermanson Family Ltd. P'ship I,
1997 WL 33471623, at *4 (D. Colo. Aug. 5, 1997).
12. Lucas v. Kmart: inaccessible shopping.
Amy’s step-father investigating a Kmart.
Tim’s mom was one of our interviewers, too.
Possibly our best press coverage
ever: Mouth magazine
13. Kmart’s Expert’s Notes and Video.
Non-disabled spokesmodel with no
footrests easily accesses the merchandise.
Even easier to just get out and push the
wheelchair from behind. Will remember
to suggest that to our clients.
Practice pointer: always ask for
the opposing expert’s notes.
15. CCDC v. Taco Bell: queue lines that segregate.
Can you spot the two people who signed
the DOJ’s amicus brief in 1999 and are
here with us tonight?
16. Shepherd/Hollenbeck v. USOC: different standards for disabled athletes.
Congress created the USOC to
administer the Olympics and
Paralympics. When we sued, the
former got 97% of the athletic
budget; the latter, 3%. We thought
this was discrimination. Sadly, the
Tenth Circuit disagreed.
17. Coors Field: unequal seating and views.
The clear language of Standard 4.33.3 requires fans with disabilities be provided
lines of sight and prices comparable to those of non-disabled fans, and the
ADAAG Manual states the exception is not an exception to comparable pricing
requirement. According to an old saying, baseball is as American as Mom and
apple pie. In a newly constructed public assembly area, a facility constructed
specifically to enjoy that all-American activity, such as Coors Field, should be
required to provide access to all Americans, disabled and non-disabled, and
may not discriminate on the basis of disability in the full and equal enjoyment of
Coors Field and the home team, the Colorado Rockies.
Colorado Cross-Disability Coal. v. Colorado Rockies Baseball Club, Ltd., 336 F.
Supp. 2d 1141, 1146-47 (D. Colo. 2004)
18. Lane v. Santa Cruz Metro: transit discrimination.
Linda Kilb (DREDF), Deborah Lane, Joshua Loya & the FoxRob team.
19. Moeller v. Taco Bell: queue lines (and more) still discriminate.
Surveys!
20. Moeller v. Taco Bell: queue line justice.
The [queue line] also violates the ADA's integration mandate. Title III requires public
accommodations to provide “[g]oods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and
accommodations ... in the most integrated setting appropriate ...,” and prohibits places of
public accommodation from providing people with disabilities with services, facilities,
privileges, advantages, or accommodations that are not equal to, or are different or
separate from those provided to other individuals. “Providing services in the most
integrated setting is a fundamental principle of the ADA.”
Moeller v. Taco Bell Corp., 816 F. Supp. 2d 831, 867 (N.D. Cal. 2011) (citations omitted).
Plaintiffs Ed Muegge,
Craig Yates, and
Corbett, with expert
Eric McSwain.
21. Anderson v. Colorado: fighting for outdoor exercise.
Mr. Anderson … has been deprived of any form
of outdoor exercise, and virtually any
meaningful exposure to fresh air, for 12 years. …
Coupled with the other conditions of
administrative segregation at the CSP, this
prolonged deprivation is a paradigm of
inhumane treatment.
Anderson v. Colorado, 887 F. Supp. 2d 1133,
1140 (D. Colo. 2012)
22. Decoteau v. Raemisch: the fight goes on.
This Facility Program Plan (FPP) outlines the requirements for design and construction to
provide group outdoor recreation space for Close Custody Management Control Unit
offenders at the Colorado State Penitentiary (CSP).
The project’s conception was initially in response to a Final Order and Judgment in the
Civil Action between Plaintiff Troy Anderson and the State of Colorado, Department of
Corrections, regarding conditions of confinement in the Administrative Segregation
housing classification . . .
In fact, a class-action lawsuit involving all current offenders housed at CSP and allowed
access only to the current individual exercise rooms has been initiated. The project
defined in this Facility Program Plan is in part intended to satisfy the directives issued in
the Anderson case as well as to negate future litigation.
Colorado Department of Corrections, Facility Program Plan submitted on July 25, 2014
23. Undercover Discrimination Investigation
* My paraphrase of “individuals who, without an intent to rent or purchase a home or apartment, pose as renters or purchasers for the purpose of collecting evidence of unlawful [housing] practices” have standing to sue under
the Fair Housing Act. ““That the tester may have approached the real estate agent fully expecting that he would receive false information, and without any intention of buying or renting a home, does not negate the simple fact
of injury within the meaning of” the Fair Housing Act. Havens Realty Corp. v. Coleman, 455 U.S. 363, 373, 374-75 (1982).
Discrimination is illegal – and can be challenged in court – even if the target intentionally put him/herself in a
discriminatory situation to investigate it and bring it to light.* YOU CAN HELP US INVESTIGATE:
Businesses that discriminate on the basis of
race, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
Religious discrimination in
employment ads.
Inaccessible apartments or
businesses.
24. More Ongoing Investigations.
No effective communication at
the doctor’s office or hospital
Lack of necessary curb-cuts
Inaccessible hotel vans.
28. CREEC’s booth at the DeafNation Expo.
Cara did dual duty a sign language
interpreter and candy supplier!
CREEC’s booth at the National Federation of the
Blind of Colorado Convention.
Outreach
29. Outreach
Amy and Holly’s road trip to Durango
to present to the Southwest
Independence Center
CREEC’s table at the 110th Anniversary of the
University of Denver Law School’s Clinical Programs.
30. Our Board of Directors
WE’RE NOT WORTHY! WE’RE NOT WORTHY!
31. Board of Directors
Bill Lann Lee: Clinton’s assistant
attorney general for civil rights.
Continues to raise civil rights hell at
Lewis, Feinberg, Lee, Renaker &
Jackson. Co-counsel extraordinaire.
Tonight’s speaker!
Donna Hilton: Proposal writer and marketer at
McKesson Corp. Fundraising guru. Important
CREEC trivia: Donna and Amy came up with the
name “Civil Rights Education and Enforcement
Center” driving around Denver to inspect fair
housing violations while Donna was Executive
Director at Housing for All.
Mari Newman: Partner at Killmer, Lane &
Newman; seeking justice for Coloradans who
want to marry and others who prefer not to have
the crap beaten out of them by the police.
CREEC’s Board at a Rockies game early last season.
32. Staff and Co-Counsel
PEOPLE WE LOVE TO WORK WITH
Cool Venn diagram credit: Jeff Weiner http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/27/best-people-at-work-linkedin_n_5711075.html
39. Cayenne, Jalapeño, and Chipotle
David A. Jones, Jr. &
Mary Gwen Wheeler
Kim & Mary Kay Love
Steve & Courtney
Marsters
David S. North
Lawson Law Office
40. Peppadew
Kathi Pugh & Josh Maddox
Bruce & Terri Robertson
Laura Rovner
Lainey Feingold
Michael Bien
Susan Ann Silverstein &
Kenneth Shiotani
LaBarre Law Offices
