"Justice" Denied

Stephen Bottilla really wants to be a person with a disability.

The Madison, Wisconsin native made the news back in May for an incident in a local McDonald's restaurant. Bottilla was incensed that the manager of the restaurant asked him if his dog, Justice, was a service animal. The manager accepted Bottilla's assurance that the dog was a service animal, but the mere asking of the question prompted Bottilla to call the police, seeking recrimination against the store. The police informed him that the manager had acted within the law. Bottilla became increasingly agitated and ultimately was brought to the ground and tasered -- all while Justice slept at his feet.

Bottilla had no case against McDonald's, because the ADA allows restaurant managers to inquire whether your animal is a service animal. Bottilla had a separate incident, however, in a city park where he was asked to leave. In this incident, the police did not accept Mr. Bottilla's assurances of his disability status or of Justice's role as a service dog. This incident was the basis for a federal lawsuit filed by Bottilla, a suit that thrown out of court yesterday by U.S. District Court judge Barbara Crabb.

Much of this case involved Bottilla attempting to convince the court of the severity of his condition, coupled with the role that Justice plays in assisting him in everyday tasks. Bottilla, who claims to have epilepsy, offered no independent proof of his disability, providing only his anecdotes of his struggles with epilepsy. He also offered no evidence that Justice was ever trained as a service animal, saying only that he had trained him to provide the services that were needed. Bottilla also claimed that Justice had developed an ability to sense when a seizure was coming.

Bottilla argued that he had trained Justice to do it. Judge Crabb ruled that the ability, if it indeed existed, was innate. Bottilla also offered no evidence that Justice had been "individually trained" to provide services for him, another requirement of the ADA.

Honestly, if Bottilla is to pursue legal action against anyone based on his status as a person with a disability, he is going to have to establish the fact that he is indeed a person with a disability. If he has ever been treated for epilepsy, the attending physician should be able to write a brief letter attesting to his disability status. Every disability program - including ours - requires some kind of independent verification of disability status. It's not that hard to get -- if you are indeed a person with a disability.

As far as the dog goes, I don't see why someone couldn't train their own dog to be a service animal. But there likely should be some way to provide independent verification of the important role the animal plays as well.

Then perhaps scenes such as the one from the city park in Madison can be avoided.