E.D. Pa. Holds Title II's Reasonable Modification Requirement Doesn't Apply to Demands for Wheelchair Accommodations on Trains

New on Westlaw: In Disabled in Action of Pennsylvania v. National R.R. Passenger Corp., 2005 WL 1459338 (E.D. Pa., June 17, 2005), the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania held that the transportation-specific provisions of Title II-B of the ADA take precedence over the general provisions of Title II-A. The plaintiffs were wheelchair users who wanted to travel together on defendants' trains in groups of a couple dozen. Title II-B of the ADA requires space for one person to sit in a wheelchair per car, as well as one space to fold and secure a wheelchair per car. Those accommodations were not sufficient to allow the plaintiffs to travel together on the same train, so the plaintiffs sought, as a "reasonable modification" required by the general provisions of Title II-A, the temporary removal of additional seats on the train to permit them to travel together. The district court held that the general reasonable modification requirement doesn't apply to matters specifically addressed in the transportation-specific provisions of Title II-B. It accordingly granted summary judgment to the defendant.