[nagdu] Woman with guide dog says civil rights were violated

[Angie Matney]

Hi Marion,

I think it would be extremely unlikely that a judge would interpret a law to
apply to only Seeing Eye dogs, even if the phrase "seeing-eye" appeared in
the statute. The judge is charged with determining the legislature's intent.
I believe most judges would rightly conclude that "seeing-eye" should mean
exactly what the common understanding of that word suggests, since this is
likely what the legislature would have meant when it drafted the law in that
manner.

By contrast, "public accommodation" is not a commonly understood term--not
really. I seem to recall a case involving the Florida service animal statute
in which it was determined that, while a doctor's office might be a "public
accommodation" for purposes of the civil rights act, it was not a public
accommodation for purposes of the service animal statute.

My whole point was that any attorney worth her sault would have a stronger
argument than, "the law says `seeing-eye,' so this person could dnot have
had the requisite criminal intent." 

I hope the case you discussed goes well.

Angie

Angie



-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Marion & Martin
Sent: Saturday, June 06, 2009 5:09 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Woman with guide dog says civil rights were violated

Angie,
    You have stated what I meant by my comments. As for whether or not an 
attorney could win on this technicality might be up to a judge. we have a 
case currently in the works in Florida in which the State Attorney will not 
file charges against a private taxi company that has denied access to two 
blind people. The SA is arguing that the taxi company has the right to 
refuse access to anyone for any reason and that, as a private company, it is

not a "public accommodation". The Attorney General's office is intervening 
for us on this question. I offer this example as one of a technicality that 
may cause even someone who should be a legal advocate for the public as one 
who is interpreting the law too narrowly and, in my opinion, incorrectly.

Fraternally,
Marion

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Angie Matney" <angie.matney at gmail.com>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, June 06, 2009 12:02 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Woman with guide dog says civil rights were violated


> Hi Jenine,
>
> I could be wrong, but I think Marion was talking about a possible criminal
> case. I think he was suggesting that an attorney might argue that an 
> access
> denial was not a crime if it didn't happen to a team from The Seeing Eye.
> (Having said that, I don't remember if Texas has criminal access-denial
> statutes or not.) In a criminal case, the ADA terminology wouldn't matter,
> but as I said in my other email, I don't think an attorney could win an
> argument on a technicality like that.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Jenine Stanley
> Sent: Saturday, June 06, 2009 11:00 AM
> To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Woman with guide dog says civil rights were violated
>
> Interesting logic, Marion, but federal law trumps state and local laws and
> there's no such mention of the term "Seeing eye" in the ADA. Now I suppose
> if a person just stuck with remedies provided under state law or local law
> and such a term was still in place then it would matter, but hopefully a
> good attorney could also argue against it as well as for it.
>
>
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