A Helping Hand Prevails in US District Court

For more information, call Jamie Moss, newsPRos, 201-493-1027, or Meredith Curtis, ACLU of Maryland, 410-889-8555.

(August 8, 2006, Baltimore, MD)—A Helping Hand LLC, a private methadone treatment clinic in Pikesville, Maryland, gained a thumbs-up from the jury in US District Court today in its suit against Baltimore County.  Three patients of the clinic also prevailed against the county on individual claims.

Even before the jury returning its findings, yesterday, after all the evidence closed, the judge granted the clinic’s motion for judgment finding that Baltimore County's zoning law discriminates against persons seeking treatment for opiate addiction in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).   The judge's ruling was based on the disparate impact that the zoning law has on methadone clinics and was a clear finding of discrimination,  which will allow the Helping Hand clinic to remain open.    That ruling left the jury to decide issues of intent to discriminate, due process, and the separate claims of the Doe plaintiffs.

Today's jury verdict is a further affirmation of the clinic's right to conduct business and the right of people who need treatment to seek it. In a unanimous decision, the jury agreed the county discriminated against the clinic and three of its patients by passing a restrictive zoning ordinance that violated the ADA.  Jurors also ruled in favor of A Helping Hand in a claim that the county violated the clinic’s Fourteenth Amendment rights by depriving its owner of property without due process of law. 

"We are gratified that the jury was able to see through the County's rhetoric that attempted to disguise council members' longstanding prejudices about and discrimination against individuals seeking assistance to overcome serious addictions as 'democracy at work,'" said Joel Prell, president of Helping Hand.  "I am hopeful this verdict signals an end to this matter and allows us to return our full attention to meeting our patients' needs without worrying whether we can continue to operate in our Pikesville location."

A Helping Hand was represented in the matter by Steven J. Barber, a partner at Steptoe & Johnson LLP in Washington DC, Errol R. Patterson, of counsel with Steptoe in the same office, as well as Steptoe attorneys Jeff Bradford, Anthony Cavanaugh, Stephen Fan, and Ambre Howard, along with Baltimore attorneys Emanuel Levin, Joel Richmond, Richard Griffiths, and Deborah Jeon from the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland.

"Today's decision rights a grievous wrong done to the clinic and to the patients who depend on it and other private clinics for treatment services," said Mr. Barber. "We are pleased the jury recognized that Baltimore County's actions were based solely on biases and stereotypes about individuals seeking methadone treatment, who are entitled to protection under the ADA.  The Council's intentions could not have been more transparent over the past four and a half years, as they set out to prevent methadone treatment services from being available to these individuals through private facilities such as A Helping Hand."

The verdict renders invalid the zoning law passed by Baltimore County Council in April 2002, just hours after A Helping Hand opened its Pikesville methadone clinic on Slade Avenue.  

"The ACLU is heartened that the jury has recognized that it is wrong to discriminate against individuals suffering from the crippling disability of opiate addiction by denying them medical treatment they are entitled to under the Americans with Disabilities Act," said Deborah Jeon, legal director at the ACLU of Maryland. "As a matter of policy, Maryland has rightfully moved away from incarceration and toward drug treatment. Now we need to find ways to ensure that those seeking treatment are supported and not discriminated against because of public distaste for their disability."

US District Judge Catherine C. Blake, who presided over the trial, ruled in prior litigation that earlier zoning laws passed by Baltimore County to regulate methadone clinics violated the ADA because they were more stringent than zoning laws covering other types of treatment facilities.

The county responded by passing County Bill 39-02, which prohibited state-licensed medical clinics, including methadone, alcohol, and drug treatment centers, from locating within 750 feet of residential neighborhoods. It also subjected clinics in office and commercial zones to a special hearing and created new off-street parking requirements for such facilities. 

The law was also amended minutes before the Council's vote to "grandfather" in clinics already operational prior to its passage—a category in which A Helping Hand DID fit.  Prell's clinic had faced a fine of up to $200 per day for operating in its new location under the ordinance.