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John Mbawe v. Ferris State University, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, No. 18-1046 · judgment November 5, 2018

Certiorari denied · May 13, 2019
Pre-decision estimate: 2% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

  1. The Americans with Disability Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. §12101, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504), 29 U.S.C. §794 require an entity to seek to reasonably accommodate an “other qualified” individual with a disability who desires to participate in the services or programs offered by that entity. In order to determine whether a student is “otherwise qualified”, a university must conduct an “individualized assessment” of the disabled student. An “individualized assessment” is an “interactive process” in which the student and university must engage in efforts to craft an accommodation that would permit the student to remain at the university. “In general” an individual must first notify an entity of his or her disability, and indicate a desire to remain, before that entity’s obligation to engage in an interactive process is triggered. Most circuits, however, have recognized exceptions to this “general rule”, especially when the disability is one that is known to the entity, and particularly where the disability is one that obviously impairs an individual’s mental or cognitive abilities. Other circuits, including the Sixth Circuit, have taken the stance that an entity cannot be held liable for failing to meet its obligations under the ADA and Section 504, if the disabled individual did not first propose a specific reasonable accommodation, prior to separation from his or her desired position(s). The question presented is: Whether the interactive process is triggered when a University knows or should know of a

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Shereef Hadi Akeel
Akeel & Valentine, PLC

For respondent
Michael Eugene Cavanaugh
Fraser Trebilcock Davis & Dunlap, P.C.

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. May 13 2019
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Apr 17 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/9/2019.
  3. Apr 15 2019
    Reply of petitioner John Mbawe filed. (Distributed)
  4. Apr 03 2019
    Brief of respondents Ferris State University, et al. in opposition filed.
  5. Mar 07 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due April 11, 2019)