Green v. Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District

MEMORANDUM

Plaintiff Calbruce Jamal Green appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Defendant Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (“Tri-Met”). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We affirm.

Green did not raise a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Tri-Met’s operators acted with deliberate indifference, as necessary to substantiate his claim for monetary damages under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12132 . See Duvall v. Cnty. of Kitsap, 260 F.3d 1124 , 1138 (9th Cir.2001). To substantiate his claim, Green had to show that a rational trier of fact could find that Tri-Met’s operators: (1) had “knowledge that a harm to a federally protected right [was] substantially likely”; and, (2) “fail[ed] to act upon that ... likelihood.” Id. at 1139. Tri-Met’s operators may have known that Green was mentally impaired and needed accommodation. The undis- putea evidence, however, shows they made efforts to communicate effectively with Green. In doing so, they employed many of the communication techniques Green identified as reasonable accommodations. Although the operators could have used additional…