Palisades Family Wins Appeal In Local Boy Scout Lawsuit

After two years in the courts, the parents of a 14-year-old autistic boy who filed a lawsuit against Pacific Palisades Boy Scout Troop 223 will now have their case heard in federal district court. The parents, Jane Dubovy and Mike Reilly of Pacific Palisades, allege that Troop 223 violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when the troop excluded their child, Casey Reilly, from a weeklong scouting trip, which prevented him from advancing in rank. In October 2006, Federal District Court Judge S. James Otero dismissed the lawsuit before the parents’ attorney, Christopher Knauf, had a chance to present the case. Otero ruled that the Boy Scouts is a private club that does not have to comply with ADA. In 1993, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that the Boy Scouts is a private club that is exempt from the Civil Rights Act, and therefore can exclude members on the basis of sexual orientation and religion. ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of a disability, but private clubs and organizations are exempt from the law. Dubovy and Reilly appealed Judge Otero’s decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Pasadena. This May, Knauf argued the case’s merit before Ninth Circuit Judges Jay Bybee, Marsha Berzon and Barry Silverman. ‘The judges recently decided that the case was pled properly and that we have enough facts to go forward,’ Dubovy told the Palisadian-Post. ‘ADA has never been challenged before,’ she continued. ‘This is a different class of people [than those protected under the Civil Rights Act] and a chance to argue a new point.’ After the parents won the appeal, Troop 223 attorney Carla Kerr asked for an en banc, where the whole bench reviews the case, but that request was denied. Now, there will either be a summary judgment hearing in front of a federal district court judge or a trial before a jury. The lawyers are in the process of gathering supporting evidence, and Dubovy expects a court date will be set for early 2009.