Litigation: Pledger v. SAS Transportation

By: Matthew Dietz

Litigation – Pledger v. SAS Transportation

Jeff and Suzanne Pledger love to go on cruises. Jeff is blind and he uses a guide dog named Joelle. As an advocate for persons with visual impairment, Jeff is the past President of Verizon’s Disabilities Issues Awareness Leaders (DIAL), which provides support and resources to Verizon’s employees with disabilities. As part of his accomplishments, he was part of the task force to develop the 1996 Telecommunications Act. This Act provided many benefits to people with disabilities. For example, this work force was instrumental in developing cell phones that are easier to use by people who have low vision and hearing loss.

Jeff and Suzanne have been on a number of cruises, and on January 13, 2014, they flew into the Ft. Lauderdale Airport for a five day cruise departing out of the Port of Miami. Prior to the flight, the Pledgers contacted SAS Transportation, Inc. for transportation to the cruise ship and, as a courtesy, they disclosed to the transportation company that there would be a service dog included in the requested trip.

The owner of the transportation services declined the transportation request because there is no room on the vehicle for a service dog and it would make other passengers uncomfortable. He suggested they would need to arrange a private shuttle.  The Pledgers attempted to educate the owner of SAS regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act and state statutes requiring equal access to individuals with disabilities with service dogs, but the owner would not bend, and wrote back:

“I respectfully decline your request as my vans are not set for animals even service dogs and with how heavily reserved we are and the vans being full it is not in the best interest of my vehicle to transport your request. I apologize but I do have the choice if I decide to turn down a request especially if I feel the situation is uncomfortable for all of my passengers. There is just no room for a dog in the shuttle vans because our vans are full and the vans have no extra room for a dog.”

The Pledgers requested assistance from Disability Rights Florida, Florida’s federally-mandated protection and advocacy system that provides legal and other services to persons with disabilities. An advocate reached out to the owner and attempted to educate on the requirements of the ADA, but again was ignored.

On June 17, 2014, Disability Independence Group joined Disability Rights Florida to sue SAS Transportation on behalf of Jeffrey Pledger to ensure that SAS Transportation would not discriminate against persons who use service dogs, and just four months later, obtained a settlement agreement that ensured adequate policies, training, and notice to customers that SAS was going to allow persons with service dogs to travel in their vehicles.

Guardianship – Part 2

Florida is one of the few states that has developed a process specifically designed to meet the needs of persons with DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES—in Florida that process is GUARDIAN ADVOCATE. There are a few differences between GUARDIAN ADVOCATE and GUARDIANSHIP as I described in last month’s newsletter. First, Guardian Advocacy is limited to persons with at least one of five developmental disabilities as defined in Chapter 303, Florida Statutes.
They are out of the statute exactly, “retardation, cerebral palsy, autism, spina bifida, or Prader-Willi syndrome that manifests before the age of 18 and that constitutes a substantial handicap that can be reasonably be expected to continue indefinitely”. Another important component is the person’s ability to make decisions. The standard is “an individual in need of guardian advocacy must lack SOME BUT NOT ALL the decision making ability to complete some or all of the tasks necessary to care for themselves, their property and or estate”. These distinguish this option from a standard Guardianship. There are advantages to a Guardian Advocacy if you meet the requirements. The law does not require a determination of incapacity. This is one of the main reasons that this is a less restrictive option for some folks. Also there is no requirement that the guardian advocate be represented by an attorney unless for a special reason the Court requires it or if the advocate is delegated any rights as to property other than being the representative payee for governmental benefits. For those reasons this is usually a less expensive, less intrusive option than guardianship. If you have any questions please call us at DIG (305) 669-2822 or email Sharon at Sharon@justdigit.org

CONGRATULATIONS SHARON

Sharon Langer and Debbie Korge

On March 2, 2014, Sharon Langer was one of eight recipients to receive the 2014 Women of Impact Award. This award is presented by the Women’s History Coalition of Miami-Dade County.  Sharon was given a beautiful sculpture in the image of Julia Tuttle, the founder of the City of Miami.  For more information on this organization, please visit their website at: http://womenshistorycoalitionmiamidade.org/.

Sharon was nominated by Debbie Korge of Casa Valentina for her, “unwavering devotion to legal advocacy and particular contributions to minorities, women and children.”  Sharon is a founding member of Casa Valentina, which is an organization that provides housing and life skills training for young adults aging out of Foster Care.