Overview
The Washington Post covered Steptoe’s success for a deaf prisoner in an article titled “US Jury Orders DC Corrections to Pay $70,000 to Deaf Inmate in ADA Claim.” On May 11, following a seven-day jury trial, a District of Columbia federal court jury awarded $70,000 in damages to William Pierce for the District of Columbia’s violation of his rights under the Americans Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act. Mr. Pierce was imprisoned in DC jail for 51 days in 2012 on a misdemeanor assault charge. The DC jail failed to provide him with an American sign language interpreter or a videophone during his incarceration, and because of miscommunications created by that, he ended up spending 14 days in “the hole,” among other injuries.
The Steptoe trial team included Jim Rocap, Damon Kalt, and Nina Thanawala. In September 2015, the same trial team obtained partial summary judgment on liability for Mr. Pierce in a significant, 62-page opinion by the court.
Steptoe worked on this case with the ACLU of the Nation’s Capital.
The full article can be read at The Washington Post.
