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Supreme Court rules deaf student can sue Michigan school district for not providing skilled interpreters

The Supreme Court has ruled unanimously in favor of a deaf student, saying he is allowed to move forward with a lawsuit against the Sturgis school district in Michigan under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The school provided Miguel Luna Perez with an interpreter who did not know sign language and inflated his grades to fool his family, his attorneys say. File Photo by Tasos Katopodis/UPI
The Supreme Court has ruled unanimously in favor of a deaf student, saying he is allowed to move forward with a lawsuit against the Sturgis school district in Michigan under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The school provided Miguel Luna Perez with an interpreter who did not know sign language and inflated his grades to fool his family, his attorneys say. File Photo by Tasos Katopodis/UPI | License Photo

March 21 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled in favor of a deaf student from Michigan who is suing the Sturgis school system for inadequately educating him by not providing required interpreters.

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Miguel Luna Perez could pursue legal action against the school district under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

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According to his complaint, the now 27-year-old Luna Perez was not given access to a qualified interpreter and instead was given an assistant who did not know sign language.

Additionally, the school artificially inflated Luna Perez's grades and had him listed on the honor role even though he couldn't read or write.

Luna Perez's family didn't realize they had been fooled until a few months prior to graduation.

In 2018, Luna Perez won a settlement under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which resulted in the school district having to pay to send him to the Michigan School for the Deaf while he was in his 20s.

Roman Martinez, the lawyer who argued on Luna Perez's behalf at the Supreme Court, said, "The court's ruling vindicates the rights of students with disabilities to obtain full relief when they suffer discrimination. Miguel and his family look forward to pursuing their legal claims."

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Tuesday's ruling resolves a dispute over whether or not Luna Perez is required to exhaust all legal avenues under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act before he can seek damages under the American's with Disabilities Act.

A lower court ruled that Luna Perez was barred from suing under the ADA by a provision in IDEA, but in a decision written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, the Supreme Court asserted, "we clarify that nothing in that provision bars his way."

Luna Perez wants to sue the district for the permanent damage they caused to his ability to learn.

Mitchell Sickon, one of the lawyers representing Luna Perez, told the Detroit Free Press, "He'll have injuries and limitations for the rest of his life. He can make up some ground and he has, but these kind of opportunities that you have growing up to internalize a language are sort of limited to windows in time."

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