leftmfy

MENTAL HEALTH

Disability Advocates v. Pataki, No. CV 03 3209 (E.D.N.Y.) (filed June 30, 2003)
MFY, with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, Disability Advocates, Inc., New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Inc., the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, and the Urban Justice Center, brought suit on behalf of mentally ill residents of New York who, instead of being offered supportive housing in the community, are placed in "adult homes," for-profit facilities warehousing hundreds of mentally ill residents. Contrary to the ADA-derived requirement that disabled individuals receive services "in the most integrated setting appropriate to the[ir] needs," 28 CFR ß 35.130(d), the state continues to use adult homes as the main source of housing for people with mental disabilities. As explained in the complaint, these homes provide minimal privacy and dignity for the residents, offer virtually no rehabilitative care or hope of moving to the community, often keep the residents in fear through threats of eviction and other retaliation, and have a well-documented history of abuse, substandard and unsanitary conditions, and schemes to defraud residents and the government. MFY and co-counsel charge that the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act require creation of adequate integrated community housing for adult home residents and individuals at risk of being placed in adult homes.

Fountain House, Inc. v. Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), CV-03-2579 (CBA)(CLP) (E.D.N.Y. Oct. 15, 2003)
MFY, together with the law firm of Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler and mental health consumer advocate Fred A. Levine, brought an action against the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) on behalf of a class of psychiatrically-disabled New Yorkers who were being denied the reduced fares given to other disabled passengers, through unnecessarily burdensome application and eligibility verification procedures. The suit was settled by stipulation requiring the MTA to streamline its application form and procedures, to disseminate reduced fare information to mental health advocates, and to submit to continued monitoring by the plaintiffs.