Judge Rejects Deal on Disabled
City Had Sought to Put Group Home Lawsuit on Hold

By Daniel LeDuc
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 16, 2008

A federal judge rejected yesterday a proposed agreement between the District and the Justice Department that would have established programs and deadlines intended to improve health care for the developmentally disabled in the city's group homes.

U.S. District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle brushed aside arguments from acting D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles that litigation hinders efforts to reform medical care, saying, "I've heard similar things over and over again."

She ordered attorneys for the group home residents and the District to prepare for a hearing in December. Huvelle ruled in March 2007 that the District had failed to provide adequate health care. Attorneys for residents hope she will order a takeover of the D.C. agency overseeing the developmentally disabled.

A special monitor appointed by Huvelle has found continued poor treatment of residents. Some patients have died for lack of care, the monitor, Elizabeth Jones, has reported. Last week, she said residents "remain at very serious risk."

Huvelle's rejection of the agreement with the Justice Department was a setback for Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's administration, which had hoped to put the lawsuit on hold while it worked on initiatives, totaling more than $4 million, that Nickles said would show real progress for residents. But the residents' attorneys refused to sign on to the proposed deal between the District and the Justice Department, which had intervened in the case.

Attorneys for the residents first sued the District over care in 1976. The suit has slogged on for decades with little improvement trickling down to the hundreds of physically and mentally disabled people in the city's care.

Huvelle grew visibly irritated at the efforts by Nickles and Justice Department lawyers, accusing them of "unmitigated gall. She also criticized the agreement, which called for a court monitor to be "sensitive to and respectful of" the District's work and timelines. Huvelle said the agreement between the city and Justice should not dictate the actions of a monitor who works for her.

"I will not sign it," Huvelle said. "I will not sign this order that has no monitoring."

Nickles grew just as agitated. He called the residents' attorneys "unreasonable."

"Basically, they have us over the barrel, your honor," Nickles said. "We have to do anything they say."

Nickles, who in private practice sued the city over care of homeless and retarded residents, is leading the city's legal response to the lawsuit. For the first time, the city last week attacked the findings of Jones, who has been issuing reports on the medical care of group home residents periodically for four years.

Her report last week found that care had declined during the Fenty administration and cited decreases in 10 of 13 care categories. The city response questioned the findings and said declines occurred in only six areas.