Wilfredo Garcia, who was paralyzed, was hospitalized at Yale-New Haven Hospital in 2011. In addition to filing a medical malpractice claim, Garcia claimed that the hospital had discriminated against him because the bathrooms were not fully accessible to him. He sought money damages of $5,000,000 under the two claims.
The defendant hospital argued that Garcia had failed to state a claim under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and moved to strike the count. Is a hospital a place of "public accommodation" under the ADA? To what type of relief would Garcia be entitled under the ADA? Connecticut General Statute § 46a-64(a) states that it is a discriminatory practice to deny a person full and equal accommodations in places of public accommodation because of physical disability or to discriminate on that basis. Although the statute does not expressly provide for a private cause of action, will Garcia be able to recover damages under the state statute?