On August 14, 2000, parents and guardians of developmentally disabled persons on waiting lists for comprehensive residential services filed a lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the governor of Colorado and two other state officials in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. Plaintiffs, represented by private counsel, asked the court for declaratory and injunctive relief, claiming that the State violated the Federal Medicaid Act by failing to provide the developmentally disabled with comprehensive residential services that meet the statutory requirements of reasonable promptness and comparability.

On February 28, 2005, the Court (Judge Richard P. Matsch) dismissed Plaintiffs' claims and ordered judgment to be entered for Defendants.

On September 21, 2006, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals (Honorable Michael W. McConnell) affirmed the District Court's judgment for defendants and held that "reasonable promptness and comparability requirements do not require the State to provide services, and that neither recipients nor providers have a private right to enforce the sufficient payments requirement through § 1983." R. v. Owens, 464 F.3d 1139 (10th Cir. 2006).

On March 26, 2007, according to a letter from the 10th Circuit Clerk, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the plaintiffs' petition for writ of certorari.

Haley Waller - 02/11/2011


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