The plaintiff, Disability Rights Texas (DRTx), a nonprofit organization established to protect and advocate for people with disabilities, sued Klein Independent School District (KISD) and associated officials, claiming that KISD unlawfully restricted their access to certain campuses. DRTx had attempted multiple times to visit schools in KISD to monitor conditions for students with disabilities but faced significant delays and refusals.
These actions, according to DRTx, violated the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights of 2000 Act, the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness Act, and the Protection and Advocacy of Individual Rights Act. These laws authorize advocacy organizations to (1) pursue administrative, legal, and other appropriate remedies on behalf of individuals with disabilities or mental illnesses; (2) access facilities that provide care, treatment, services, or supports to individuals with disabilities or mental illnesses, and (3) access records related to their clients.
KISD and its officials moved to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that DRTx failed to establish municipal liability under Section 1983, that claims against officials in their official capacities were redundant, and that the claims for individual liability were unfounded. However, the court found that DRTx had adequately alleged that a policy or custom of the KISD Board of Trustees was responsible for the violations and that the official capacity claims were not redundant because KISD was not named as a direct defendant in the amended complaint. The court also noted that DRTx did not assert Section 1983 claims against individual defendants in their personal capacities. As a result, the court denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss, allowing the case to proceed. Disability Rights Texas v. Klein Independent School District, No. 4:23-CV-02973, 2024 WL 3687121 (S.D. Tex. Aug. 6, 2024).
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