United States Fourth Circuit

Summary judgment for plaintiffs in a suit against a school district seeking to compel the district to retrofit city schools to bring them into compliance with the ADA is reversed and remanded with instructions to enter summary judgment for the defendant where remedies may be imposed only upon a party judged liable for some harm, and it had not been determined that the school district discriminated against or otherwise excluded plaintiffs from its services and activities.

Appellate Information

• Argued 11/29/2006
• Decided 01/23/2007
• Published 01/23/2007

Judges

• Before WILKINSON and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges, and JOSEPH R. GOODWIN, United States District Judge for the Southern District of West Virginia, sitting by designation.

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• ARGUED:  David J. Freedman, Assistant City Attorney, City Attorney's Office for the City of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellants/Cross-Appellees.  Joseph J. Mueller, Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale & Dorr, L.L.P., Boston, Massachusetts, for Appellees/Cross-Appellants.   ON BRIEF:  Beverly Agee Burton, Senior Assistant City Attorney, City Attorney's Office for the City of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellants/Cross-Appellees.  David D. Hopper, Cook, Heyward, Lee, Hopper & Feehan, P.C., Richmond, Virginia;  Cynthia D. Vreeland, Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale & Dorr, L.L.P., Boston, Massachusetts;  Christopher Davies, Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale & Dorr, L.L.P., Washington, D.C., for Appellees/Cross-Appellants.  William D. Bayliss, Edward J. Dillon, Williams Mullen, P.C., Richmond, Virginia, for Amicus Curiae School Board of the City of Richmond, Virginia.  William S. Mailander, Michael P. Horan, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Washington, D.C., for Amicus Curiae Paralyzed Veterans of America.  Julie C. Kegley, Steven M. Traubert, Commonwealth of Virginia, Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy, Richmond, Virginia, for Amicus Curiae The Commonwealth of Virginia, Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy.  L. Lee Byrd, Sharon E. Pandak, Jeffrey H. Geiger, Sands, Anderson, Marks & Miller, P.C., for Amici Curiae Virginia Municipal League and Local Government Attorneys of Virginia, Inc.