Ellison v. U.S. Postal Serv.
| Decision Date | 19 May 2022 |
| Docket Number | 1:20-cv-00953-RLY-MPB |
| Citation | 603 F.Supp.3d 658 |
| Parties | Shellie ELLISON, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Indiana |
Kenneth J. Falk, Stevie J. Pactor, ACLU of Indiana, Indianapolis, IN, for Plaintiff.
J. Taylor Kirklin, United States Attorney's Office, Indianapolis, IN, for Defendant.
ENTRY ON CROSS-MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
In this action, Plaintiff, Shellie Ellison, alleges that Defendant, United States Postal Service ("USPS"), violated her rights under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794(a), by failing to provide her physical access to the post office in Shelbyville, Indiana. By way of relief, Plaintiff seeks an injunction requiring the USPS to construct a ramp or provide other means of physical access to the Shelbyville facility.
Now before the court are the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment. For the reasons that follow, Plaintiff's motion is DENIED , and the USPS's motion is GRANTED .
Plaintiff is a resident of Shelbyville, Indiana. (Filing No. 32-1, Ellison Dep. at 7). The City of Shelbyville has one post office, located at 103 E. Washington Street, that serves between 175 and 250 persons a day. (Filing No. 32-2, Hedges Dep. at 9, 60; Filing No. 32-3, Del Hierro Dep. Ex. 5 at 1). The USPS owns the building, which was constructed and first occupied around 1920. (Del Hierro Dep. Ex. 2 at 2).
Plaintiff has used a wheelchair for mobility since 1997. (Ellison Dep. at 10–11). The Shelbyville post office is not accessible to wheelchair users; its public entrance can only be accessed by a set of 10 stairs. (Del Hierro Dep. Ex. 5 at 1–2). There is a ramp at the loading dock in the rear of the facility, but it leads to a door that members of the public are not permitted to enter. (Id. Ex. 5 at 3–4; Hedges Dep. at 29–30). The USPS operates three other post offices within a 10-mile radius of Shelbyville. (Filing No. 36-5, Kirklin Decl. Ex. A at 1–2). All of those locations—in Fairland, Waldron, and Manilla, Indiana—are wheelchair accessible. (Filing No. 36-6, Enyart Decl. Exs. 1 & 2; Filing No. 36-7, Neal Decl.).
Those able to climb the Shelbyville post office's stairs will find PO boxes just inside the main doors. (Hedges Dep. at 9–10). Patrons who rent these PO boxes may access them 24 hours a day, seven days a week.1 (Id. at 14). Behind another set of glass doors is the "retail lobby." (Id. at 11 & Ex. 11 at 3). Its hours are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Saturday.2 (Kirklin Decl. Ex. A at 1). There, customers can, among other things: purchase stamps, shipping supplies, greeting cards, and gift cards; inquire about different types of mail (e.g. express, priority, retail ground, media mail, and bound print) and insurance for mailed items; and receive assistance with taping and weighing their packages. (Hedges Dep. at 12–13, 24–28). The retail lobby also contains official USPS envelopes and packaging as well as a worktable with various forms including certified and return mail receipts, signature confirmation cards, and hold-mail cards. (Id. at 13, 23–24).
In addition its physical locations, the USPS maintains a website where customers can pay for postage and print shipping labels, as well as access information about insurance, preparing packaging, and scheduling a pickup. (Filing No. 36-8, Send Mail & Packages). Customers can also browse and purchase various items at the virtual "Postal Store," including stamps, packaging, mailing supplies, greeting cards and envelopes, and gifts. (Filing No. 36-9, Postal Store). The USPS's flat rate boxes and envelopes for Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express are also available for free on the website. (Filing No. 36-10, Shipping Supplies).
In 2015, Plaintiff grew frustrated by her inability to enter the Shelbyville post office to transact business. (Ellison Dep. at 21). To obtain services at the facility, she had to park her car at the rear of the building and either call the post office or exit her vehicle and press a buzzer in the middle of a steep ramp connected to the loading dock. (Id. at 21–22). A USPS employee would then come out to assist her. (Id. at 23). If, for example, she sought to mail a package, the employee would take it inside to weigh along with her credit card to process the transaction. (Id. ). All the while, Plaintiff would remain outside. (Id. ).
Plaintiff eventually filed a complaint with the United States Access Board seeking to make the front entrance accessible. (Id. at 21, 23, 34). Her complaint also highlighted various barriers to service accessibility at the loading dock. (Id. Ex. 2 at 1–4). The Access Board concluded that it could not force a change to the front entrance because the main steps of the Shelbyville post office "are original to the building's construction (prior to 1968) and have not been altered since." (Id. Ex. 2 at 3).3 Nevertheless, in response to Plaintiff's complaint to the Access Board, the USPS agreed to install a new van accessible parking space at the loading dock, rebuild the ramp to make it less steep, relocate the existing call button from the middle to the top of the ramp, and install a new buzzer at the front of the accessible parking space. (Id. Ex. 3 at 1). These modifications were completed in 2016 at a cost of approximately $60,000. (Id. ; Filing No. 36-14, Ramp Construction Payment). Following the changes, Plaintiff explains that mail trucks at the loading dock have blocked her use of the accessible parking space on multiple occasions; she also notes that postal employees have at various times failed to answer her telephone calls for assistance. (Ellison Dep. at 24, 60–62 & Ex. 6).
In 2017, Plaintiff procured a PO box at the Shelbyville post office for "Wheels on the Ground," a non-profit organization she founded to educate the public on disability and accessibility issues. (Id. at 13 & Ex. 1 at 7). Plaintiff relies on Wheels on the Ground's board members or her family to retrieve the PO box's contents. (Id. at 30–31). On occasion she has gone to the post office and called to have an employee bring the mail to her car. (Id. at 31–32). But she would like to be able to retrieve the contents of the mailbox herself. (Filing No. 32-4, Ellison Aff. at ¶ 3). The USPS offered to have the contents of Wheels on the Ground's PO box delivered to Plaintiff's home. (Del Hierro Dep. Ex. 7 at 2). Plaintiff refused the offer because she wanted to keep the business mail separate from her personal mail. (Ellison Dep. Ex. 1 at 3–4). She also wanted Wheels on the Ground's board members to be able to retrieve mail from the PO box. (Id. ).
Plaintiff has not attempted to obtain services from the Shelbyville post office in recent years, last visiting only one or two times in 2019. (Id. at 30). She now goes to a private company in Shelbyville when she needs to mail packages. (Id. at 24). However, she wishes to be able to enter the Shelbyville post office to "utilize all of the services available in the retail area" and access Wheels on the Ground's PO box, which the organization still maintains. (Ellison Aff. at ¶ 4).
In 2019, the City of Shelbyville offered to pay for the addition of a ramp to the front entrance of the post office. (Del Hierro Dep. Ex. 10 at 1). The USPS declined the offer, citing regulations that prohibit it from accepting donations of "physical improvements, including, without limitations, exterior improvements, ... additions, [or] renovations." (Id. at 35; Filing No. 36-16, USPS Handbook § 334.2).
Summary judgment is appropriate when the moving party shows that there are no genuine disputes of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). The ordinary summary judgment standard remains unchanged when the parties file cross-motions for summary judgment: the court construes all facts and inferences arising from those facts in favor of the party against whom the motion under consideration is made. Blow v. Bijora, Inc. , 855 F.3d 793, 797 (7th Cir. 2017).
Because the relevant facts are not in dispute and the parties’ cross-motions address the same issues of law, the court considers the motions together.
Plaintiff argues that the USPS has violated her rights under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act by failing to provide her physical access to the Shelbyville post office. The court, though sympathetic to her claim, disagrees.
Section 504 provides:
No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States ... shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance or under any program or activity conducted by any Executive agency or by the United States Postal Service.
29 U.S.C. § 794(a).4 The Rehabilitation Act defines "program or activity" to mean "all of the operations of" a covered entity. Id. § 794(b)(1)(A).
"In order to make out a prima facie case of discrimination under ... the Rehabilitation Act, a plaintiff must show: (1) that [s]he suffers from a disability as defined in the statute[ ], (2) that [s]he is qualified to participate in the program in question, and (3) that [s]he was either excluded from participating in or denied the benefit of that program based on h[er] disability." Novak v. Bd. of Trs. of S. Ill. Univ. , 777 F.3d 966, 974 (7th Cir. 2015) (citing Jackson v. City of Chi. , 414 F.3d 806, 810 (7th Cir. 2005) ). The parties do not dispute that Plaintiff is a qualified individual with a disability under the Act. Their arguments center on the third element of her prima facie case: whether Plaintiff has been denied the benefit of the USPS's services because she is unable to enter the Shelbyville post office. Broadly, those services include the...
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