A federal judge will allow an organization lobbying on behalf of the interests of blind people to press a class action lawsuit against the city of Chicago for not doing enough to make traffic intersections safe for those with limited vision.
On March 4, U.S. District Judge Elaine E. Bucklo granted the request from the American Council for the Blind of Metropolitan Chicago to certify a class action on behalf of perhaps 60,000 Chicago residents, in the legal action against City Hall.
The legal action dates back to 2019, when the Council for the Blind filed suit in Chicago federal court. The lawsuit accuses the city of discrimination against its blind residents and visitors by not installing so-called accessible pedestrian signals at street intersections in the city.
The APS devices communicate with those with limited vision by making sounds and vibrating a tactile button, to help blind pedestrians hear the status of the Walk and Don’t Walk signs, and know whether it may be safe to cross the street.
“Yet Chicago regularly installs and upgrades pedestrian traffic signals without including an APS device, thereby denying blind pedestrians access to information that is provided to pedestrians to promote their safety,” the Council for the Blind wrote in its complaint.
According to the 2019 complaint, only 11 out of 2,2672 signalized intersections in the city included such APS devices. According to plans posted by the city of Chicago, the city had intended to install such APS devices at several dozen more locations through 2021.
“Such systemic failure dangerously diminishes blind pedestrians’ ability to navigate street crossings safely and independently,” the Council for the Blind said in its complaint, forcing these pedestrians to instead rely on the kindness of others to help them safely cross streets.
The lawsuit asserts the city’s lack of such APS devices amounts to a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the federal Rehabilitation Act. The plaintiffs are seeking court orders requiring the city to “take the necessary steps to remedy the City’s pedestrian signals,” including installing such devices at every signalized intersection.
The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Nigel F. Telman, Edward Chester Young and Holly Renae Morris, of the firm of Proskauer Rose, of Chicago; and Christina Brandt-Young and Jelena Kolic, of Disability Rights Advocates, of New York and Chicago.
The city is represented by attorneys Andrew S. Mine and Peter Hardt Cavanaugh, of the city’s Department of Law, and John C. Hansberry, Matthew Scot Payne, Laura Elizabeth Caplin and Nathan J. Marketich, of Fox Rothschild, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has also intervened in the case.
After nearly three years in court, Judge Bucklo said she will allow the case to proceed as a class action, allowing the Council for the Blind to lead the case and the Proskauer Rose lawyers to serve as lead counsel, positioned to collect attorney fees from any settlement with the city
Bucklo noted that courts have allowed similar cases to proceed, including a Council for the Blind action against New York City, which similarly features few intersections with APS devices.
The judge rejected the city’s arguments that the Council for the Blind cannot push the case forward on behalf of more than 60,000 people whose interests and personal claims and situations may not be matched closely enough.
She said those arguments were better suited for later in the proceedings, when the court may consider the merits of the claims.
At this point, the judge said she has merely agreed that a class action is the best way to allow the court to hear arguments and evidence, should the case proceed toward trial.