Penny Alexandra Jackson v. University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center School of Medicine

Petitioner, a disabled veteran and former medical student, alleged that Respondent delayed and then inadequately accommodated her documented disabilities, causing the examination failures that led to her dismissal. Both courts below held that she was not a “qualified individual” — and therefore could not establish a prima facie case — because she failed examinations, including one taken after Respondent granted a portion of the accommodations she had requested. Neither court determined whether the accommodations Respondent provided were reasonable or adequate. The district court further declined to examine the summary judgment record Petitioner had submitted, reasoning that judges are not obliged to hunt for evidence within it, and the court of appeals affirmed that refusal. The questions presented are:

1. Whether a plaintiff may be held, as a matter of law, not to be a “qualified individual” under 42 U.S.C. § 12131(2) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act on the basis of academic outcomes obtained under the very accommodations whose adequacy is the disputed question in the case — so that the injury alleged becomes conclusive proof that the plaintiff was never qualified.

2. Whether Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(c)(3), which provides that a court “need consider only the cited materials, but it may consider other materials in the record,” permits entry of summary judgment against a nonmovant on a dispositive element without any determination whether the evidence in the summary judgment record would permit a reasonable jury to find in her favor.

3. Whether the elements of a failure-to-accommodate claim brought by a student under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act are supplied by the employment framework of Title I, so that a public university is held to the notice and accommodation obligations of a “covered employer.”