Class Action for MTA Access-A-Ride Users: Paulino Santos et al. v. MTA et al.
04/18/2024Federal and local laws require that paratransit services for people with disabilities be comparable to the transportation services provided to non-disabled people. This case challenges certain MTA Access-A-Ride scheduling and routing policies, saying they are unlawful discrimination, violating that law.
On April 26, 2023, a group of individuals with disabilities and New York Integrated Network, a nonprofit coalition of more than a dozen agencies that provide services to individuals with disabilities, filed a complaint.
The case, Paulino-Santos et al. v. MTA et al., was filed in the Southern District of New York, Case No. 23-cv-03471.
On March 29, 2024, the Court issued an Opinion and Order on defendants’ motion to dismiss, allowing most of the claims in the case to procced.
On April 12, 2024, the Court ordered that the case can proceed as a class action, on a stipulation agreed by both sides. The class is:
“all people who cannot consistently use fixed-route transit (defined as subways and buses operating solely within New York City) because of a disability, and who use Access-A-Ride or would use Access-A-Ride if it had response and travel times more comparable to the MTA’s fixed-route transit.”
The class is represented by Vladeck attorneys Maia Goodell and Emily Bass represent the plaintiffs, along with co-counsel Britney Wilson, Associate Professor of Law and the Director of the Civil Rights and Disability Justice Clinic at New York Law School Legal Services, Inc.
If you are a member of the class and would like to get in touch with the lawyers for plaintiffs and the class, please call the Vladeck firm at 212-403-7300 or email AARclassaction@vladeck.com.