Cynthia Madej, et vir v. Jeff Maiden, Athens County Engineer

In PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin, this Court carefully examined the important question of when, under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), an otherwisereasonable accommodation would “fundamentally alter” the program in question. 532 U.S. 661 (2001). PGA Tour reserved, however, the equally important question of how courts should evaluate “the specifics of the claimed disability” to determine whether a requested accommodation is “necessary.” Id. at 683 n.38. Guidance is now needed regarding the presumed reliability of the claimant’s testimony about the need for an accommodation, and this case is an ideal vehicle through which to provide it. The rule in the Fifth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth and the District of Columbia Circuits in ADA and Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA) disability accommodation cases is that a claimant’s self-reported medical history is presumed to be reliable, to the extent that such evidence is sufficiently probative to preclude summary judgment. Here, however, in diametric opposition to that consensus, the Sixth Circuit held that Petitioner’s self-reported medical history is presumptively unreliable absent corroboration by a clinical test result. The first question presented is: Is a disability claimant’s self-reported medical history regarding the need for an accommodation presumptively unreliable?