A federal judge declined to dismiss a deaf woman’s disability discrimination claim against Adams County Sheriff Richard Reigenborn over allegations she was held for 16 hours in the jail without access to a sign language interpreter and unable to communicate her needs effectively.

U.S. District Court Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney agreed last week that Cynthia Mullen plausibly claimed jail staff intentionally discriminated against her in violation of federal law, and Reigenborn could in turn be held liable for the employees’ actions.

“These allegations demonstrate that Ms. Mullen had an obvious need for reasonable accommodations and faced a substantial likelihood of harm due to the Detention Facility staff’s failure to accommodate,” Sweeney wrote in a Nov. 29 order.

She also observed that Mullen reportedly suffered physical harm from the jail’s inability to understand her needs, with staff allegedly leaving Mullen to sit upright in an “old rickety wheelchair overnight.”

Mullen filed her claims under the Rehabilitation Act, a precursor to the Americans with Disabilities Act, which protects people from being excluded from programs or activities that receive federal funding on the basis of their disability.

According to her lawsuit, Mullen cannot read or write sentences in English and communicates instead via American Sign Language (ASL). She is also an amputee who requires a wheelchair, and she is diabetic.

On Aug. 24, 2020, she got into a fight while riding in a vehicle with two other people. The driver, who was Mullen’s caregiver, pulled over into a parking lot in Brighton. When police arrived, the passenger told an officer that Mullen had hit her.

Mullen, who was unable to communicate that she was the victim, alleged she was arrested wrongfully. Court records show a charge of misdemeanor assault against Mullen was dismissed the following year.

After receiving medical treatment, Mullen arrived at the Adams County jail, where no ASL interpreters were present. One deputy attempted to communicate with Mullen by spelling out words in sign language, which Mullen called “tedious and ineffective.” Reportedly, the officer gave up trying to communicate with Mullen.

Mullen claimed she was unable to communicate in a timely fashion with jail staff over her need to use the bathroom, or convey that it was impossible for her to move from her wheelchair to the cot they gave her, due to the height difference. Consequently, Mullen slept overnight in her wheelchair.

“Sitting in the old wheelchair caused Ms. Mullen physical pain, and caused her extreme frustration, anger, and feelings of helplessness,” her attorneys wrote.

The following day, Mullen attempted to write to a nurse using a dry erase board, which was “not an effective means of communication.” As a result, the nurse gave an incorrect dose of Mullen’s diabetes medication. It was not until Mullen appeared for court that she received an ASL interpreter.

She then sued the sheriff, the board of county commissioners and Wellpath, the medical contractor for the jail. They had allegedly discriminated against her intentionally and did not accommodate her disability – chiefly by failing to provide an ASL interpreter.

The defendants moved to dismiss the lawsuit. Among other things, they pointed to another lawsuit Mullen filed in 2018, in which a judge found she could communicate by writing. Mullen’s claim now that an ASL interpreter was essential, wrote Wellpath, “is patently false.” Mullen’s attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the alleged discrepancy.

In April, then-U.S. Magistrate Judge Nina Y. Wang recommended dismissing Mullen’s claim against the Adams County board, as the elected commissioners did not seemingly play a role in Mullen’s alleged discrimination in the jail. She also recommended dismissing Wellpath as a defendant because Mullen had not plausibly shown the company received federal funding, which is necessary for a Rehabilitation Act claim.

As for Reigenborn, the county attempted to argue jail staff were not deliberately indifferent to Mullen’s rights, and she had not shown they intentionally discriminated against her.

“The fact that the Detention Facility staff underwent an iterative series of attempts to communicate with and accommodate Ms. Mullen over the short 16-hour window she was in custody (even if she finds them inadequate) is evidence of the staff’s lack of indifference to Ms. Mullen’s circumstances,” wrote Assistant County Attorney Michael A. Sink.

However, Wang concluded that not only could Reigenborn be held liable for his subordinates’ actions, but Mullen had made claims that, if true, could amount to intentional discrimination.

“Plaintiff alleges that the Detention Facility staff knew that Ms. Mullen was deaf; she required an ASL interpreter; she was unable to communicate effectively in written English or by using an interpreter who only knew how to ‘fingerspell’ individual letters in ASL; she was physically disabled; she required an accessible bed to accommodate her physical disability; and the Detention Facility staff ignored her requests for an ASL interpreter or an accessible bed,” Wang wrote.

Although the county objected to the magistrate judge’s findings, Sweeney, the district judge, agreed Mullen had alleged that her need for an interpreter and an accessible bed would have been obvious to jail personnel, and yet they ignored it.

The case is Mullen v. Board of Commissioners et al.