CDQ Secures Dismissal of ADA Claim

Dan Dowd, Betsy Lamm and Kaysey Fung obtained the dismissal of a federal lawsuit filed by a former ASU graduate student.  The plaintiff asserted claims against the Arizona Board of Regents (“ABOR”) for discrimination under Title II of the ADA, breach of contract, negligence, negligent supervision, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.  On behalf of ABOR, CDQ moved to dismiss the complaint in its entirety on the following grounds:  (1) the Eleventh Amendment and sovereign immunity bar the plaintiff’s Title II ADA claim following the United States Supreme Court’s required three-part, conduct-specific analysis under United States v. Georgia; (2) the plaintiff failed to plead a plausible discrimination claim under Title II; and (3) the Eleventh Amendment barred the plaintiff’s state law claims.  Following briefing and oral argument, the District Court for the District of Arizona granted ABOR’s Motion to Dismiss.  Adopting the analysis set forth in CDQ’s briefing, the District Court dismissed the plaintiff’s Title II claim with prejudice, holding both that the plaintiff did not state a plausible claim for relief and the plaintiff’s Title II claim is barred by sovereign immunity, finding that the plaintiff could not demonstrate that Congress validly abrogated sovereign immunity for the class of conduct alleged in her complaint.