Green v. Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District

909 F. Supp. 2d 1211, 2012 WL 5467536, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 161092
CourtDistrict Court, D. Oregon
DecidedNovember 9, 2012
DocketNo. 3:11-CV-00876-BR
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 909 F. Supp. 2d 1211 (Green v. Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Green v. Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District, 909 F. Supp. 2d 1211, 2012 WL 5467536, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 161092 (D. Or. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

BROWN, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on Defendant Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon’s Motion (# 42) for Summary Judgment. On October 30, 2012, the Court heard oral argument on Defendant’s Motion and took the matter under advisement on November 7, 2012.

For the reasons that follow, the Court GRANTS Defendant’s Motion.

BACKGROUND

The following facts are taken from the Joint Statement of Agreed Facts and the parties’ summary-judgment materials and are undisputed unless otherwise noted:

Defendant Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) is a public entity that provides bus and rail service in Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas Counties. It is undisputed that TriMet is subject to Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. § 12112 et seq.

Plaintiff Calbruce Jamal Green has a seizure disorder; a mixed receptive and expressive language disorder; gross cognitive, perceptual, and intellectual-cognitive processing defects that limit his life activities; memory problems; and mild mental retardation. Plaintiffs reading and sentence completion abilities are at a fifth-grade level, and he has a verbal IQ of 55. [1213]*1213Plaintiff lives independently, but he receives assistance with certain activities of daily living such as grocery shopping and money management. Plaintiff also receives assistance to ensure he takes his medications daily. It is undisputed that Plaintiff is an individual with a disability within the meaning of the ADA.

Plaintiff is able to ride TriMet buses and trains as long as he is familiar with the route to his destination. Plaintiff often receives assistance from caregivers as to new routes or destinations on TriMet. Plaintiff also is usually able to ask TriMet operators for assistance.

On December 7, 2009, Plaintiff was using TriMet to travel from Gresham to his home in North Portland. Plaintiff took a TriMet light-rail train from Gresham to the Rose Quarter Station. Plaintiff intended to transfer at the Rose Quarter Station to the Line 4 TriMet bus, which would take him -within walking distance of his residence.

Shortly before 9:30 p.m. on December 7, 2009, TriMet bus operator Rick Gallagher had completed his work day and intended to return his bus (Bus # 1) to the TriMet garage on S.E. Powell Boulevard. Also at that time TriMet bus operator Liza Mitzel was driving a Line 4 bus (Bus # 2) carrying passengers towards the Rose Quarter Station when Bus # 2 suffered a defect, which Mitzel reported. Mitzel was told to trade Bus # 2 at the regular Line 4 stop at the Rose Quarter Station for a bus that was functioning properly.

TriMet dispatch then called Gallagher and directed him to take Bus # 1 to the Rose Quarter Station to trade out for defective Bus # 2. TriMet directed Gallagher to bring Bus # 2 back to the garage while Mitzel continued on the Line 4 regular route to North Portland in Bus # 1.

Gallagher arrived at the Rose Quarter Station before Mitzel. When Gallagher arrived, Bus # 1 still displayed “Powell Garage” as its destination. Gallagher pulled into the station and informed people waiting at the stop that Bus # 1 would become a Line 4 bus and continue on to North Portland as soon as Bus #2 arrived. Because it was a cold night Gallagher invited anyone waiting to board and to wait inside Bus # 1 until Bus # 2 arrived. At that point Plaintiff boarded Bus # 1 and presented an Honored Citizen Identification Card1 to Gallagher. Plaintiff asked Gallagher about the destination of Bus # 1. Gallagher explained Bus # 1 would become a Line 4 bus and proceed on the Line 4 route after Bus # 2 arrived and its passengers were transferred to Bus # 1. Plaintiff appeared confused and asked Gallagher several times about the destination of Bus # 1 and began to use an elevated tone of voice. Gallagher told Plaintiff that he was “welcome to wait outside” on the station platform instead of inside the bus if it would make Plaintiff less concerned. Plaintiff then exited Bus #1.

Shortly thereafter while Plaintiff was still at the station, Mitzel arrived with Bus #2. Mitzel advised her passengers that Bus # 2 was not functioning properly and told them that Bus # 1 was going to continue on as the Line 4 bus. All of the passengers on Bus # 2 exited and boarded Bus # 1.

After the passengers disembarked from Bus # 2, Plaintiff boarded Bus # 2. Mitzel was gathering her personal items from the operator’s cab and advised Plaintiff that Bus #2 was out of service. Mitzel [1214]*1214further advised Plaintiff that if he wanted to take a Line 4 bus, he needed to exit Bus # 2 and get onto Bus # 1. It appears from the video of the events submitted by the parties that Mitzel gestured towards Bus # 1 as she told Plaintiff that he needed to board Bus # 1.

Plaintiff did not respond to Mitzel and did not exit Bus # 2. Instead Plaintiff sat down at the back of Bus # 2. Gallagher told Mitzel that he would deal with Plaintiff so Mitzel could return to driving Bus # 1 on the usual Line 4 route. Mitzel exited Bus # 2 and prepared to drive Bus #1.

Gallagher advised Plaintiff that Bus # 2 was out of service and that he should get on Bus # 1 if he wanted to take a Line 4 bus or get off of Bus # 2 and wait for the next Line 4 bus. Plaintiff did not respond to Gallagher and did not exit Bus # 2.

Gallagher advised Plaintiff that if he did not leave Bus # 2, Gallagher would have Plaintiff removed. Plaintiff did not respond to Gallagher and did not leave Bus # 2. At that point Gallagher noticed Beaverton Transit Police Officer Keith Welch parked nearby. Gallagher advised Officer Welch that he needed to have Plaintiff removed from Bus #2. Officer Welch boarded Bus # 2, and Gallagher got off to contact dispatch and to explain the reason for his delay. Mitzel and Gallagher’s interactions with Plaintiff on Bus # 2 lasted between three and five minutes.

Ultimately Officer Welch and Portland Police Officer Jack Blazer2 removed Plaintiff from Bus # 2, transported Plaintiff to jail, and booked him. Plaintiff was subsequently released, but he was cited and excluded from TriMet for violating the TriMet Code. Following an administrative hearing on the citation, the exclusion was upheld and Plaintiff was restricted from using the TriMet system for 60 days.

Gallagher did not write a report of the incident on that ■ night because his dispatcher did not request that he do so and, according to Gallagher, incident reports are generally written only for accidents or injuries to passengers that result from TriMet’s actions.

On May 7, 2010, TriMet’s Claims Department asked Gallagher to write a report because the Claims Department had received correspondence from Plaintiffs counsel. In his report Gallagher described his interactions with Plaintiff and the efforts taken to get Plaintiff to leave Bus #2.

On July 21, 2011, Plaintiff filed an action in this Court against Officers Welch and Blazer, the Cities of Portland and Beaver-ton, Multnomah County, Brinn Culver,3 Multnomah County Sheriffs Deputy John Doe, and TriMet asserting claims (1) under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and Monell v.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
909 F. Supp. 2d 1211, 2012 WL 5467536, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 161092, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/green-v-tri-county-metropolitan-transportation-district-ord-2012.