Federal Court Issues Important Civil Rights Decision that Will Enable Many D.C. Citizens with Disabilities to Transition out of Nursing Facilities to the Community

On December 31, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a resounding judgment for the Plaintiff class in Brown, et al. v. District of Columbia, finding that the District of Columbia has violated the rights of D.C. residents with disabilities under the integration mandate of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act. The Court’s decision followed a trial in 2021, in which the Plaintiffs proved that D.C. failed to inform D.C. nursing facility residents who receive Medicaid that they could leave nursing facilities and receive home health services in their communities and failed to assist them to do so. The D.C. government also failed to help them access community-based services and housing options needed to transition back to the community. The ruling comes as a result of the 2021 trial in which attorneys Todd A. Gluckman, Patrick A. Sheldon, and Kathleen L. Millian of Terris, Pravlik and Millian, LLP, joined attorneys from AARP Foundation, and Disability Rights D.C. at University Legal Services to represent the Plaintiff class.

The Court recognized that individuals living in nursing facilities often need help learning about and applying for available community services to help them transition out of the institution and into their own homes. Even when residents learn about services, navigating the complicated Medicaid-funded long-term care program can cause confusion and anxiety that sometimes causes facility residents to lose hope that they can live in their own homes again. 

Under the “integration mandate” of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Olmstead v. L.C., state and local governments must provide community-based services to people with disabilities whenever possible. Unnecessarily segregating people in institutions is illegal discrimination. If people with disabilities who are institutionalized in nursing facilities are to benefit from the promise of the integration mandate, they necessarily require that governmental entities provide them with information and assistance.  

The Court’s judgment is the culmination of 14 years of litigation. The suit was filed in 2010. After two appeals, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ordered a remand trial in 2019. In 2019, Terris Pravlik & Millian, LLP, joined AARP Foundation and Disability Rights D.C. as co-counsel for the Plaintiff class.

“Judge Friedman has let the District of Columbia know in clear terms that it cannot rely on nursing facilities, but rather, the District itself must provide effective transition assistance to help residents of nursing facilities move out of the institutions and receive their Medicaid services in the community,” said Kathleen L. Millian of Terris, Pravlik & Millian, LLP. The decision can be found here.