This case emerged from Haddad v. Arnold. With slightly differing facts from others in the proposed class in Haddad, plaintiffs Luis Cruz and Nigel de la Torre filed this separate complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on April 15, 2011. The plaintiffs have spinal cord injuries that caused quadriplegia. Both have paralysis, use a wheelchair for mobility, and require assistance in their homes in order to perform daily life activities. Although both plaintiffs receive some in-home nursing through Medicaid, this is insufficient to meet their needs (about 2 hours a day of care). They are both on the waitlist for Florida Medicaid's traumatic brain and spinal cord injury waiver services, and the state administrators have responded negatively to their inquiries, indicating limitations in the program that would prevent the plaintiffs from receiving waiver services in the foreseeable future. The plaintiffs argued that this placed them at risk of unnecessary institutionalization and thus violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (under the precedent Olmstead v. L.C.) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Following a Report and Recommendation from Magistrate Judge Andrea Simonton, District Court Judge Ursula Ungaro granted the plaintiff's motion for preliminary injunction on November 24, 2010, finding that the plaintiffs had demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits and that they stood to suffer irreparable harm without waiver services. The injunction ordered the state to provide such services.

With waiver services in place for the plaintiffs, the parties agreed to dismiss the case on April 15, 2011. The case was reopened for the purpose of determining attorney's fees and the parties litigated this issue for a year, with a Magistrate Judge finding in favor of the plaintiffs and awarding fees in February 2012. The parties settled soon after.

Beth Kurtz - 11/29/2012


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