A federal judge in Maine has granted class-action status to a lawsuit involving nursing home residents with cerebral palsy, epilepsy and other ailments that want to live outside those facilities, according to the Associated Press.
Earlier this week U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock gave the class-action designation to a suit lodged by three men with cerebral palsy who want to live on their own but still receive services from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.
That lawsuit, filed in December 2009, claims that Maine was in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Nursing Home Reform Act for not letting the three men reside outside nursing homes.
Judge Woodcock ruled that 40 nursing home residents with cerebral palsy and other conditions can join in the 2009 lawsuit.
