United States Ninth Circuit

In an action brought by a class of hearing-impaired UPS employees and applicants who cannot meet a Department of Transportation hearing requirement, challenging UPS's use of such standard under the Americans with Disabilities Act and state law, a judgment against UPS and an injunction against it are vacated in part, and reversed in part where: 1) the pattern-or-practice burden-shifting framework of International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. 324 (1977), was inapplicable to this case; 2) certain circuit precedent is overruled to the extent it imposed a "bona fide occupational qualification" standard under the ADA; and 3) a finding that UPS violated the Unruh Act is reversed pursuant to Bass v. County of Butte, 458 F.3d 978 (9th Cir. 2006). (En banc opinion)

Appellate Information

• Argued 06/20/2007
• Decided 12/28/2007
• Published 12/28/2007

Judges

• Before:  ALEX KOZINSKI, Chief Judge, MARY M. SCHROEDER, STEPHEN REINHARDT, PAMELA ANN RYMER, MICHAEL DALY HAWKINS, SIDNEY R. THOMAS, BARRY G. SILVERMAN, M. MARGARET McKEOWN, RAYMOND C. FISHER, RONALD M. GOULD, RICHARD A. PAEZ, MARSHA S. BERZON, RICHARD R. CLIFTON, MILAN D. SMITH, JR., and SANDRA S. IKUTA, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• James L. Lee, Carolyn L. Wheeler, Vincent J. Blackwood and Barbara L. Sloan (argued), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Washington, D.C., for amicus curiae Equal Employment Opportunity Commission., Claudia Center and Lewis Bossing, The Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center, San Francisco, CA, for amici curiae American Association of People with Disabilities et al., Rae T. Vann, McGuiness Norris & Williams, LLP, Washington, D.C., for amicus curiae Equal Employment Advisory Council., Robin S. Conrad and Shane Brennan, National Chamber Litigation Center, Inc., for amicus curiae Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America., Robert Digges, Jr., American Trucking Associations, Inc., Alexandria, VA, J. Brett Busby and Jeffrey L. Oldham, Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP, Houston, TX, for amicus curiae American Trucking Associations, Inc.


• For Appellees:
  
• Mark A. Perry (argued), Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, Washington, D.C., Christopher J. Martin, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, Palo Alto, CA, Rachel S. Brass and Amanda M. Rose, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, San Francisco, CA, for the defendant-appellant., Laurence W. Paradis (argued) and Kevin M. Knestrick, Disability Rights Advocates, Berkeley, CA, Todd M. Schneider and Guy B. Wallace, Schneider & Wallace, San Francisco, CA, for the plaintiffs-appellees.