On December 19, 2000 ten institutionalized individuals with disabilities filed suit against Oregon, the Oregon Department of Human Resources, and the Oregon Department of Human Services in the Federal District Court for the District of Oregon. They alleged that the defendants had violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act, the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Specifically they claimed that they were segregated within their institutions and were capable of functioning in the community if the state would provide them with the community based treatment to which they were entitled.

On August 10, 2001 the Magistrate Judge (Magistrate Judge Dennis James Hubel) issued Findings and Recommendations. He recommended that the motion to dismiss the claims based on 42 U.S.C. § 1983 be granted but all other motions to dismiss be denied. On September 18, 2001 the district court (Judge Anna J. Brown) adopted this report over the objections of the defendants based on Eleventh Amendment immunity. The defendants appealed but on May 14, 2003 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (Judges Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain, Ferdinand F. Fernandez, and Raymond C. Fisher) affirmed the district court.

The parties thereafter reached a settlement agreement and on January 13, 2004 the court (Magistrate Judge Hubel) certified the settlement class and gave preliminary approval of the settlement. Though the exact details are not known the settlement provided for expedited availability of community based treatment for those for whom it was appropriate. The case was closed on March 10, 2004 when the court (Magistrate Judge Hubel) gave final approval to the settlement agreement.

Michael Perry - 03/06/2011


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