Housing suit is reinstated

Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2004 | 8:59 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A federal appeals court Monday reinstated a lawsuit by a group of disabled citizens against a Las Vegas housing developer on grounds the homes did not accommodate the handicapped.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the ruling of U.S. District Judge Lloyd George, who dismissed the suit filed by the Disabled Rights Action Committee and one of its members against Pacific Properties and Development Corp.

The appeals court upheld another of George's decisions -- the ruling that the disabled committee was not entitled to strip Pacific Properties of some of its profits.

Ronald R. Smith, a wheelchair-bound polio victim, in 1997 began investigating developments in Clark County for compliance with federal regulations on housing for the handicapped.

Smith said he found violations of the federal regulations involving inaccessible interior doorways, pathways and thermostats in four developments -- Adagio, Carlisle, Deerfield and Legends East.

Smith and the disabled committee filed a complaint with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Pacific Properties entered into a consent decree and agreed to make adjustments to the homes.

Smith later inspected a fifth development and said he found barriers to the handicapped in violation of federal laws. He and the Disabled Rights Action Committee sued.

George dismissed the action on grounds that neither Smith, who died before the ruling, nor the disabled group had standing because they did not buy the homes.

The appeals court, in a decision written by Judge Michael D. Hawkins, said Smith had the standing to bring suit. The court said the organization was spending its "scarce resources" and that the case should not have been dismissed.

The appeals court, however, agreed with George's dismissal of a claim the developer unjustly profited.