Court rules disabled may sue over rodeo seating

Wednesday, July 14, 2004 | 8:30 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A federal appeals court Tuesday ruled that an organization of disabled people in Las Vegas can sue over alleged discrimination during the National Finals Rodeo held at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the 1,000-member Disabled Rights Action Committee's lawsuit against Las Vegas Events Inc. and the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.

The appeals court also ruled that the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, which owns and leases the center to Las Vegas Events Inc., could not be a target of the lawsuit.

The decision overturns a ruling by U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben, who dismissed the complaint.

The suit said people who use wheelchairs "have been subjected to discriminatory access, substandard seating arrangements and higher ticket prices" than those paid by the general public.

Richard Armknecht III, a Utah lawyer who represented the disabled group, said the appeals court "made a good decision." He said there have been no changes to the way the rodeo accommodates the disabled since the first suit was filed in September 2000 and a subsequent suit was filed in 2002.

Armknecht said the problem at the Thomas & Mack is that it has "lots of accessible seating" for the disabled on the ground floor but the area normally used by people in wheelchairs is removed during the rodeo because the bulls and the horses are on the ground floor.

There is a limited supply of wheelchair seating in other parts of the arena, he said. Armknecht said because of the limited seating for those in wheelchairs, the scalpers may increase their prices.

Elizabeth Brennan, the Las Vegas attorney representing the defendants, said Tuesday she had not had a chance to read the decision and had no comment. But, she called the allegations of the disabled group frivolous, saying, "There is plenty of adequate seating for the disabled."

The court, in an opinion written by Judge Marsha Berzon, said the U.S. Supreme Court "has held that a private entity that stages an event for a limited time period at a facility owned by a third party is covered by Title III," the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

Las Vegas Events leases the center from UNLV, and the appeals court said the company and the cowboys association are responsible for assuring compliance with the federal law's requirement to accommodate the disabled.

Berzon said the disabled group should be permitted try to develop in federal court its claim that the law was violated. The appeals court said the lease with UNLV does not prevent Las Vegas Events "from taking action to make the rodeo accessible to the degree possible within the scope of its lease or, in the alternative, from holding the rodeo at an accessible venue."

"It is possible, of course, that if (Las Vegas) Events and Cowboys are ordered to comply with Title III, they may decide to hold the rodeo elsewhere," the court said.

"If Events and Cowboys do so choose, then the University might have to take an action against Events for breach of contract for any damage suffered as a result of the private entities' refusal to abide by their agreement," the appeals court said.

UNLV "would be free, for example to enforce the licensing agreement, which contains a cancellation clause giving Events the right to cancel the rodeo at the center by paying a specified amount of liquidated damages," the court said.

UNLV and the events company have a contract running through 2009.

The disabled group is not challenging the lease between UNLV and the Events group

The first suit, filed about four years ago, was dismissed and the disabled committee refiled in 2002. That was also dismissed, but McKibben granted the Events Company's motion to require that UNLV be made a defendant in the suit.

The appeals court said, "We hold that the district court abused its discretion in concluding that UNLV is a necessary party."