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RDB In The News
RDB Attorneys Partner with ACLU to Argue Pro Bono Americans With Disabilities Act Case
12/4/2007
On December 4, 2007, RDB attorneys, together with the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland (ACLU), defended the rights of recovering drug addicts to receive treatment at A Helping Hand, a methadone clinic in Baltimore County.
After a county law preventing licensed medical clinics from operating within 750 feet of residences was successfully overturned in federal district court in August of last year, RDB and the ACLU represented A Helping Hand on appeal of that ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit.
RDB and the ACLU argued that the county law, which was passed without a public hearing on the same night that the methadone clinic received its state permit, violated the Americans With Disabilities Act.
“It is absolutely clear that the reason this bill was passed was to specifically target A Helping Hand and specifically because of concern about the types of people who would be treated at A Helping Hand,” said Rick Simpson, who argued that heated exchanges at a community meeting and letters in the local newspapers provided evidence that the county regards drug addicts as disabled.
The county law had been overturned in a trial before U.S. District Court Judge Catherine Blake, who found that the County regarded A Helping Hand’s clientele as disabled. A jury further found that the law violated the Americans With Disabilities Act, discriminated against the clinic’s clients, and that the clinic owner had been denied his right to due process.
This case has received considerable press coverage because of its possible repercussions for zoning laws. To read more about the case, please visit the articles listed below:
“Rights of Disabled vs. Local Zoning,” Baltimore Sun, December 4, 2007.
“Methadone Clinic Case Argued,” Baltimore Sun, December 5, 2007.
“Court Battle Over Methadone Clinic Begins, May Last Months,” The Examiner, December 5, 2007.
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