City of Costa Mesa, California v. SoCal Recovery, LLC, et al.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq.) and Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq.) define “disability” as an impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. This Court’s precedent* requires a natural person suing for disability discrimination to make an individualized showing of substantial limitation. Can entities such as group homes, which derive their standing to sue from the disability of their residents, forego proving that their individual residents are substantially impaired and thereby disabled, even though their residents would have to make such a showing if they had brought the discrimination claims directly themselves?

The Americans with Disabilities Act and Fair Housing Act also define disability as “being regarded” as having a physical or mental impairment. Can public comments made to a governmental entity be used to show that the entity regarded individuals as disabled, even when the entity did not adopt or approve the particular comments? * Sutton v. United Air Lines, Inc., 527 U.S. 471, 483 (1999), superseded by statute on other grounds, ADA Amendments Act of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-325, 122 Stat. 3553.