In case you missed it, the United States Supreme Court unanimously decided that students no longer have to meet a higher threshold when bringing claims under the ADA or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
Back in the 1980s, the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals, decided that in cases alleging ADA and Section 504 violations, a student had to show that the school had failed to comply with the statutes due to “either bad faith or gross misjudgment.”1 As a result, students in Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, had to prove that “bad faith or gross misjudgment” standard while their peers in surrounding states had a lesser standard.
The decision, A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools, Independent School Dist. No. 279,AJT v. Osseo Area SchoolsOSSEO AREA SCHOOLS, INDEPENDENT SCHOOL
DISTRICT NO. 279 had to sho related to “‘educational services for disabled children,’ a school district’s simple failure to provide a reasonable accommodation [was] not enough to trigger liability.”