Posted on: Tuesday, October 8, 2002

Disabled bias case goes to high court

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

The state attorney general's office has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a recent appellate court ruling affirming that Hawai'i is liable for discrimination against the disabled in the Quest medical program.

In 1996, a U.S. magistrate had found the state liable for damages after four Hawai'i residents said they had been discriminated against because they were blind, old or disabled. The plaintiffs said they would have qualified for the Quest program for low-income residents, but were denied benefits because of their disability.

In 1998, Magistrate Barry Kurren awarded damages to Richard Lovell and Douglas Delmendo. More than 300 others joined the class action against the state.

State attorneys argued that denials had been based not only on the plaintiffs' disabilities, but because they did not meet financial requirements. The state said it had a federal waiver from complying with the Americans With Disabilities Act because the Quest program was experimental.

Kurren disagreed, and ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. The state appealed the decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the lower court's ruling.

In its appeal to the Supreme Court, the state related its claim that Congress had revoked improperly states' 11th Amendment immunity from being sued for damages under the ADA. The 9th Circuit Court had rejected that claim. The attorney general's office said federal appeals courts had given differing interpretations of constitutional law on the question and it wanted the matter clarified once and for all.