Lane v. Tennessee, 98-6730.

• Decision Date: 10 January 2003
• Docket Number: No. 98-6730.,98-6730.
• Citation: 315 F.3d 680
• Parties: George LANE; Beverly Jones, Plaintiffs-Appellees, United States of America, Intervenor, v. State of TENNESSEE, Defendant-Appellant, Polk County, Tennessee, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

315 F.3d 680

George LANE; Beverly Jones, Plaintiffs-Appellees United States of America, Intervenor, v. State of TENNESSEE, Defendant-Appellant Polk County, Tennessee, et al., Defendants.

No. 98-6730.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

January 10, 2003.

William J. Brown (briefed), William J. Brown & Associates, Cleveland, TN, for Appellees.

Mary M. Collier (briefed), S. Elizabeth Martin (briefed), Office of the Attorney General, Civil Litigation & Staff Services Div., Nashville, TN, for Appellant.

Sarah E. Harrington (briefed), Seth M. Galanter, United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Washington, D.C., for Intervenor.

Before MARTIN, Chief Circuit Judge; SUHRHEINRICH and SILER, Circuit Judges.

AMENDED OPINION

BOYCE F. MARTIN, JR., Chief Circuit Judge.

This Court initially issued an opinion in this case on July 16, 2002. We held that Lane and Jones stated claims founded in due process violations, and, under Popovich v. Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, 276 F.3d 808 (6th Cir.2002) (en banc) cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 123 S.Ct. 72, 154 L.Ed.2d 15 (2002), Tennessee and the other state defendants were not immune from Lane and Jones's damages claims under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. On September 20, we granted the State of Tennessee's motion for panel rehearing. All parties submitted supplemental briefs. Tennessee argued that Lane and Jones's claims are not based on due process violations and that Tennessee therefore enjoys Eleventh Amendment immunity from suit on those claims. On rehearing and for the following reasons, we AFFIRM the district court's denial of Tennessee's motion to dismiss and REMAND this case for further proceedings.

In Popovich, we considered the validity of the abrogation of a state's immunity to suit by private parties under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Guiding our hand through our evaluation was the Supreme Court's recent decision in University of Alabama v. Garrett, 531 U.S. 356, 121 S.Ct. 955, 148 L.Ed.2d 866 (2001), in which the Supreme Court affirmed that Section Five of the Fourteenth Amendment grants Congress the power to abrogate the Eleventh Amendment immunity of the states to private damage suits. We held that the Eleventh Amendment barred claims under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act based on equal protection violations but Congress could abrogate Eleventh Amendment immunity as to due process claims.

Among the rights protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is the right of access to the courts. For criminal defendants like Lane, the Due Process Clause has been interpreted to provide that "an accused has a right to be present at all stages of the trial where his absence might frustrate the fairness of the proceedings." Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 819 n. 15, 95 S.Ct. 2525, 45 L.Ed.2d 562 (1975). Parties in civil litigation have an analogous due process right to be present in the courtroom and to meaningfully participate in the process unless their exclusion furthers important governmental interests. See Popovich, 276 F.3d at 813-14; Helminski v. Ayerst Labs., 766 F.2d 208, 213 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 981, 106 S.Ct. 386, 88 L.Ed.2d 339 (1985). Further, those who fail to appear in court may not be sanctioned for failing to appear until they have been accorded due process. Groppi v. Leslie, 404 U.S. 496, 502, 92 S.Ct. 582, 30 L.Ed.2d 632 (1972). These guarantees are protective of equal justice and fair treatment before the courts.

The evidence before Congress when it enacted Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act established that physical barriers in government buildings, including courthouses and in the courtrooms themselves, have had the effect of denying disabled people the opportunity to access vital services and to exercise fundamental rights guaranteed by the Due Process Clause. In Popovich, we found that Title II was enacted "to guarantee meaningful enforcement" of the constitutional rights of the disabled. 276 F.3d at 815-16. In doing so, Congress may require states to consider the nature of the constitutional right at issue, the often relatively small cost of compliance, and the effect of failure to accommodate those with disabilities. In the context of the case before us, Congress could ask states to weigh the fundamental importance of access to the courts to our justice system, that the perpetuation of the...