## Facts

- Robert Foley, a wheelchair user with severe mobility limitations, traveled by train to Lafayette, Indiana, expecting an accessible station.
- The City of Lafayette owned and operated the train station; Fred Taylor was the regular station maintenance/janitorial employee.
- The station required arriving passengers to use stairs, elevators, or ramps to exit the platform.
- Foley arrived during blizzard-like conditions.
- Neither station elevator was working; a repairman determined worn heating elements prevented operation in extreme cold and required replacement parts.
- The station ramps were covered in snow, preventing Foley from using them as an alternative route.
- Foley experienced delay and difficulty exiting the platform while waiting for assistance.

## Issues

1. Whether temporary inaccessibility caused by severe weather (broken elevators and snow-covered ramps) constitutes disability discrimination under the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act.
2. Whether 49 C.F.R. § 37.161’s allowance for “isolated or temporary interruptions in service or access” bars liability on these facts absent evidence of systemic failure or discriminatory policy.

## Decision

- The Seventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the City and Taylor.
- The court held that the elevator outage and snow-covered ramp were isolated or temporary interruptions in access caused by severe weather, not evidence of systemic noncompliance or discriminatory station policies.
- Because the record showed a single weather-driven episode rather than an ongoing failure to maintain accessibility features, the claimed ADA and Rehabilitation Act violations were not actionable.

## Legal Principles

- Under 49 C.F.R. § 37.161, isolated or temporary interruptions in the availability of accessibility features do not, by themselves, establish an ADA violation.
- ADA/Rehabilitation Act liability for inaccessible public transportation facilities generally requires proof that barriers reflect systemic maintenance failures or policies, not short-term conditions tied to extraordinary events.
- A plaintiff alleging denial of accessible egress must show more than a one-time, weather-related disruption when the facility is otherwise maintained to be accessible.

## Conclusion

The court treated the storm-related elevator failure and snow-blocked ramps as a temporary interruption contemplated by federal accessibility regulations and, without evidence of a broader maintenance or policy problem, upheld judgment for the public entity and its employee.


Foley v. City of Lafayette, 359 F.3d 925 (7th Cir. 2004)