SMRLS Court of Appeals Decision Gives Student Compensatory Tutoring

Laura Isenor, staff attorney with the Education Law Advocacy Project at Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services (SMRLS), logged an important decision for her client at the Minnesota Court of Appeals last month. Isenor filed a special education complaint to the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) in August regarding the suspension of a student with an emotional disturbance for which no written notice was given. She secured a favorable decision for the client to receive compensatory education for missed school time because of the school’s actions. The school district then appealed MDEs decision and Isenor represented the client on the appeal.

The Court of Appeals affirmed and upheld MDE's investigation and complaint decision (Minn. Ct. App. 02/05/24, unpublished) because of the school district's failure to provide written notice of suspensions violated state law. That decision ordered the district to pay for 60 hours of tutoring at a rate of $50 an hour for the student’s missed school time.

In Minnesota procedural safeguards beyond those set forth in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) have been adopted. School districts are required to review these additional requirements with relevant personnel to emphasize the importance of compliance. IDEA requirements do not require suspension notices, but MDE can enforce the state’s law requiring written notice of suspension. Read the full Court of Appeals decision.

Minnesota Disability Law Center Leads Advocacy Efforts as ADA Turns 33

July 26 was the 33rd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and though much progress has been made, many barriers still exist that are more than physical. Accommodations that are required by the ADA, such as the right to live as closely as possible to the ways a non-disabled person does, are still being sought. The work of the Minnesota Disability Law Center (MDLC) includes helping to legally assert the rights of persons with disabilities under the ADA.

Chad Wilson, staff attorney with MDLC, recently spoke with KARE11 news and said, "We advocate for people with disabilities to access the necessary supports and services they need to live in their most integrated setting in the community so they can live where they want to live."

Last year, MDLC won a settlement against Metro Transit on behalf of a client who was denied bus access over 150 times. As part of the settlement, Metro Transit was required to create a new training video for their drivers instructing them on where they need to stop for persons who have a visual impairment.

MDLC advocates also prevailed in a class action lawsuit against the Minnesota Department of Human Services when it was discovered that DHS was delaying help for those trying to leave group homes and live in their own places. Watch the story here or read more on the KARE11 website.

Legal Services Advocacy Project Makes Gains for Clients in Active Legislative Session

The 2023 legislative session was historic. The well publicized “trifecta” produced perhaps the most momentous and transformative set of legislation in Minnesota’s history. Many major advancements for legal aid's clients, and all Minnesotans, that were enacted include paid family leave and earned sick and safe leave time; codification of reproductive freedoms; passage of significant gun safety laws; a 100% carbon-free energy requirement by 2040; and a massive affordable housing funding bill, which includes a permanent rental assistance fund. 

While these broader issues captured headlines, the Legal Services Advocacy Project (LSAP) worked to pass a wide range of bills across a variety of substantive areas that made significant inroads in advancing protections for legal aid clients.  

• Universal free breakfast and lunch for Minnesota students; 

• Ending school suspensions for children in grades K-3;  

• The first increase in General Assistance in 30 years; 

• Giving survivors of domestic violence a path to relief from “coerced debt”;  

• MFIP disregard for participants receiving RSDI; 

• Major MFIP sanction reform and MFIP drug testing repeal; 

• A massive Child Tax Credit;  

• Banning school seclusion for children through 3rd grade; 

• Funding to fully fund wage supports for persons with disabilities holding subminimum wage jobs;   

• Extending the period within which to file a UI appeal to 45 days;  

• Providing for an annual COLA to the housing assistance grant;

• Extending MNCare coverage to undocumented persons;

• Providing for recertifications once every 12 months for MA recipients;

• Removing asset limits for persons applying for MA-EPD; 

• Eliminating the requirement that tenants must pay back rent to assert a habitability defense;

• Making eviction filings nonpublic until the court issues a final judgment;

• Providing that the new 14-day pre-eviction notice is prima facie evidence of an "emergency" for purposes of emergency assistance eligibility;

• Payday lending reform; and 

• Eliminating the court-imposed bar to taking actions under the Consumer Fraud Act.

LSAP — which is comprised of staff attorneys Jessica Webster, Ellen Smart, and Ron Elwood — annually champions both discrete and systemic policy issues that fundamentally impact the lives of thousands of Minnesotans. They work with lawmakers, legislative staff, government agencies, legal aid staff, and dedicated partner advocacy groups to design, negotiate, and refine hundreds of new and existing laws, and always with legal aid’s clients and mission guiding their work.

Minnesota Disability Law Center (MDLC) Premieres "In Our Own Words"

People with disabilities share what they most want health care providers to know

Released as an unlimited-run for health care providers everywhere, "In Our Own Words: Improving Care for People with Disabilities" is a two-part video series that debuted June 14, 2023, on Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid's YouTube channel. The first installment, "Communication," is playing now. The second, "Understanding," is set to drop June 21. Both are subtitled in Spanish.

Enlightening and powerful, the voices featured in this production reveal with sheer frankness what works and what doesn’t work for members of the disability community in health care settings. "They describe and refute assumptions made by some physicians and health care professionals but also praise the ways other providers make meaningful connections," says MDLC Public Health Advocate Anna Phearman.

Produced in partnership with the University of Minnesota's Institute on Community Integration and Special Olympics Minnesota, the intended audience for the series are health care professionals. However, Phearman adds, "Anyone and everyone can benefit. We produced this series to be a voice of empowerment. Getting people thinking about how they can promote health equity for the disability community is the goal.”

Distributors will be Mid-MN Legal Aid's Minnesota Disability Law Center—direct to providers—but key distributors will be health care recipients themselves.

MMLA and Standpoint Recognized as 2022 Attorneys of the Year by Minnesota Lawyer

On February 15, 2023, outstanding individuals and teams were honored for their exemplary legal work by Minnesota Lawyer. The annual Attorneys of the Year event recognizes efforts in procuring a successful result in an important case or business transaction, leadership in professional associations, participating in newsworthy events in the legal community, performing significant public services or excellence in providing in-house legal services.

The 2022 Attorneys of the Year Awards were presented at an in-person celebration held at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Minneapolis.

Among the legal teams recognized as Attorneys of the Year were Justin Perl, Steve Schmidt, Justin Page and Eren Sutherland of Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid; along with Peter J. McElligott and Steven M. Pincus of Anthony Ostlund Louwagie Dressen & Boylan PA; and Laura Farley of Nichols Kaster, PLLP for their work on Murphy et al. v. Harpstead, 16-cv-2623 (DWF/BRT).

After almost 6 years of litigation, the team reached a settlement agreement in the federal class action lawsuit, which requires DHS to take a variety of specific steps to improve access and opportunities for people with disabilities who want to live in their own homes or apartments. Read Settlement Reached in Disability Rights Class Action Lawsuit for more about the case.

Rana Alexander of StandPoint, and Katie Barrett Wiik of Saul Ewing LLP, were honored for their work on In re Hope Coalition before the Minnesota Supreme Court. In the appeal, the high Court ruled that communications between sexual assault counselors and their clients are protected by state law. The ruling is a major victory for advocacy groups in Minnesota, reversing a district court decision that allowed a court review of a victim’s private communications with a sexual assault advocacy counselor in a criminal case. Read Standpoint Wins Minnesota Supreme Court Appeal to Protect Victims' Privacy for more about the case.