Appeals court rules that nurse can file disability lawsuit
The Associated Press
September 13, 2003
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MONTGOMERY
| A former UAB nurse who claimed she was demoted after breast cancer treatment
can sue the university on disability discrimination charges, according to a
federal appeals court ruling.
The 11th U.S. Court of Appeals said UAB is not exempt from lawsuits under the
federal law protecting workers with disabilities, because the school waived its
immunity from such lawsuits by accepting federal grants.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that UAB was immune from the lawsuit by
Patricia Garrett, because the federal disabilities law did not have the
authority to apply its provisions to state governments.
But Garrett’s attorney, Deborah Mattison of Birmingham, said the latest
decision was based on a different position, not considered when the case was
argued before the Supreme Court. In that case, the Alabama Attorney General’s
office argued that Congress cannot take away the state’s immunity under the
11th Amendment.
After the Supreme Court ruling, the case was sent back to U.S. District Judge
William Acker to consider whether state agencies lose immunity when they accept
federal funds. Acker ruled against Garrett, and it was that decision that was
reversed by the appeals court Thursday.
A spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s office, Suzanne Webb, said the
decision was being reviewed Friday and had no further comment. In the ruling,
the 11th Circuit combines Garrett’s case with two similar cases from the state
Department of Youth Services and the state Department of Youth Services.
Mattison, who also represents the plaintiff in one of the other cases, said she
was pleased to get the favorable ruling in the six-year-old case.
“Both of my clients are happy to have won their day in court," Mattison
said.
In a 1997 lawsuit, Garrett claimed she lost her position as head maternity
nurse at the University of Alabama at Birmingham after she was diagnosed with
cancer in 1994, underwent treatment and returned to work after sick leave.
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