Goodlaxson et al. v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore

On June 10, 2021, GBDH, along with Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center (CREEC), Disability Rights Maryland (DRM), and Disability Rights Advocates (DRA), filed a lawsuit in federal court against the City of Baltimore for its failure to properly install and maintain curb ramps and sidewalks throughout the City that are accessible to and usable by people with mobility disabilities.  These violations severely impact the ability of people with mobility disabilities, making it difficult or impossible for them to fully and equally participate in civic life in Baltimore.

Baltimore’s own data shows that there are systemic barriers to the accessibility of the City’s pedestrian right-of-way.  In 2019, a multi-phase evaluation of its curb ramps showed that only approximately 1.3% of the 37,806 surveyed curb ramps comply with the ADA.  Although the focus of the 2019 survey was on curb ramps, notes from that survey document widespread problems with sidewalks, including sidewalks that were damaged or too narrow, which can make them unusable by people who use wheelchairs, scooters, and other mobility aids, so that people with mobility disabilities are forced to travel in the street with cars.

The lawsuit asked for a court order requiring the City to bring its sidewalks and curb ramps into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

After three years of informal discovery and extended and thorough negotiations, the parties reached a partial settlement of this case, in the form of a Partial Consent Decree, which received preliminary approval by the federal court.  Under the Partial Consent Decree, the City has agreed, among other things, to devote between $44 to $50 million over the course of four years to the construction and/or remediation of thousands of curb ramps and the remediation of hundreds of thousands of square feet of sidewalks throughout Baltimore. The Partial Consent Decree also requires Baltimore to create new programs designed to increase sidewalk accessibility to Baltimore residents and visitors with mobility disabilities and to improve its 311 system for requests and complaints related to the accessibility of specific intersections and sidewalks. In the third year of the Partial Consent Decree, the Parties will negotiate an additional plan to make all of the City’s remaining curb ramps and sidewalks accessible to people with mobility disabilities.

Read the Partial Consent Decree here.

Read the Class Notice here.

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