Venable DC attorneys Doug Baldridge and Joeann Walker were pictured in the Wednesday, October 14, 2009 edition of Legal BisNOW.
Legal BisNOW stopped by Venable last week to speak with Baldridge, chair of the firm's Commercial South Litigation practice, and first-year Joeann Walker, who've been working on a pro bono case for Taylor Price, a 23-year-old Georgetown student. Price, who lost his ability to walk in an 2001 surfing accident, was told by a manager at Mr. Smith's of Georgetown last January that he would only be allowed to join his friends inside if he agreed to sit in the corner because his wheelchair was a fire hazard.
Venable, along with the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, is providing pro bono representation of Price in this matter. The filed lawsuit alleges that Mr. Smith's violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, a federal law that bans disability-based discrimination in public accommodations, and the D.C. Human Rights Act, which bans discrimination based on disability and other factors.