Challenge to pregnant parking law nixed

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit alleging that a new Florida law allowing pregnant women to use parking spaces reserved for people with disabilities violates federal protections.

Chief U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor sided Friday with the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, ruling that plaintiff Olivia Keller, a disability rights advocate who uses a wheelchair, lacked legal standing to bring the lawsuit because she had “not shown any injury fairly traceable” to the agency.

Winsor’s ruling did not address the merits of the lawsuit, which was filed in October and named the department and its director, Dave Kerner, as defendants.

The law created an “expectant mother parking permit,” which allows pregnant women to obtain disabled parking placards at any point during pregnancy. The permits, which require notes from doctors confirming pregnancy, cost $15 and are valid for one year.

Keller’s lawsuit alleged that allowing pregnant women to use disabled parking spaces violates the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and other protections intended to ensure people with disabilities have access to workplaces, schools, grocery stores and medical facilities.

Federal and state laws require minimum numbers of disabled parking spaces, but Keller argued the demand far exceeds supply. The lawsuit said allowing pregnant women to use the same limited spaces has worsened access problems for people with disabilities.

Winsor agreed with state attorneys that any link between Keller’s alleged harm and the new law was speculative.

“Any connection between her alleged harm and the new law is speculative,” the judge wrote in the nine-page ruling.

Winsor noted that even before the law took effect, there was “no guarantee … that there will always be sufficient spots to accommodate everyone with a permit.”

The ruling cited Keller’s own claims that before the law, she often arrived two to three hours early to find parking near work and sometimes circled for more than 30 minutes to locate an accessible space.

“But this lawsuit is about the new law,” Winsor wrote, adding that Keller’s alleged harm would occur only if a series of conditions were met, including a pregnant woman obtaining a permit, parking in the same location at the same time and occupying a space when all others were full.

Winsor said it appears unlikely Keller can cure the complaint’s deficiencies but gave her 14 days to file an amended lawsuit.

In an interview Monday with The News Service of Florida, Keller said her status as a driver with disabilities should be sufficient to establish standing. She said the ruling would require her to “stalk people in parking lots” to determine whether pregnant women are using disabled spaces.

“This is a ridiculous, absurd, impossible-to-reach standard,” Keller said. “Math and my qualifying disability should be enough for standing because obviously I’m going to be impacted when you increase the number of people eligible to park in a finite number of spaces.”

Matthew Dietz, the disability rights attorney who filed the lawsuit, said Winsor’s ruling sets “an incredibly high standard” for challenging the law.

“It basically says, in order for you to have a case, you actually have to know that you are going to be discriminated against and when, how and where,” Dietz said.

Under federal law, pregnancy is not considered a disability, though it is covered by discrimination protections. Women with complicated pregnancies have long been eligible for disabled parking permits if deemed necessary by doctors, according to Keller.

The lawsuit said about 1.3 million of Florida’s 18.5 million drivers — roughly 7% — have permanent disabled parking permits, not including permits for temporary disabilities. Meanwhile, required disabled parking spaces typically range from 2% to 4%, with higher requirements at medical facilities.

It remains unclear how many pregnant women have applied for the permits, which are being advertised on county tax collector and state agency websites. Temporary permits for pregnant women are red and identical in appearance to permits issued for temporary disabilities.

Keller said she has not yet decided whether to appeal the ruling or file an amended complaint.

“This definitely won’t be the end of it,” she said.