Disability Rights New Jersey Inc. v. Velez, No. 10-3950; U.S. District Court (DNJ); opinion by Debevoise, S.U.S.D.J.; filed September 27, 2013. DDS No. 10-7-xxxx [55 pp.]
Plaintiff Disability Rights New Jersey Inc (DRNJ) represents psychiatric patients who either are or will be treated at the state’s four state psychiatric hospitals. It argues that the state’s policy governing the involuntary administration of psychotropic drugs in nonemergency circumstances, Administrative Bulletin 5:04B, is constitutionally infirm and routinely violated and that, as a result, patients are forced to consume psychotropic drugs against their will in violation of the federal Constitution, the Americans With Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12131, et seq., and § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794(a). It and defendants, New Jersey and the commissioner of the N.J. Department of Human Services, have filed cross-motions for summary judgment.
