# 105

III-3.5000 November 24, 1993

DJ 202-PL-708

Elaine B. Feingold, Co-director

Clinical Legal Education Program
Disability Rights Education and Defense
Fund, Inc.
2212 Sixth Street
Berkeley, California 94710

Dear Ms. Feingold:

This letter is in response to your November 22, 1993,

inquiry regarding the scope of the "association" provision of
title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The ADA authorizes the Department of Justice to provide

technical assistance to individuals and entities having rights or
obligations under the Act. This letter provides informal
guidance to you in understanding the ADA's requirements.
However, it does not constitute a legal interpretation, and it is
not binding on the Department.

You describe a situation in which an individual with a

disability, A, attempts to rent a car to take a vacation with her
two friends, B and C. A intends for one of her two friends, B,
to drive because she cannot. However, B has a disability that
requires the use of hand controls. The rental car company
refuses to make available a vehicle with hand controls. It also
refuses to rent to A, because it will only rent a vehicle when
the intended driver has a valid credit card, which B does not.

Your question is whether C, who does not have a disability,

has an ADA cause of action under 42 U.S.C. 12182(b)(1)(E) and 28
C.F.R. 36.205, because he was deprived of the opportunity to
participate in the planned trip, because of his association with
A and B. The statute provides:

It shall be discriminatory to exclude or otherwise deny

equal goods, services, facilities, privileges,
 advantages, accommodations, or other opportunities to
an individual or entity because of the known disability
of an individual with whom the individual or entity is
known to have a relationship or association.

42 U.S.C. 12182(b)(1)(E). The Department's regulation provides:

A public accommodation shall not exclude or otherwise

deny equal goods, services, facilities, privileges,
advantages, accommodations, or other opportunities to
an individual or entity because of the known disability
of an individual with whom the individual or entity is
known to have a relationship or association.

28 C.F.R. 36.205.

We believe that the situation that you have presented to us

is analogous to an illustration provided both in the analysis to
36.205 of the Department's ADA title III regulation and III-
3.5000 of the Department's ADA Title III Technical Assistance
Manual. Both the regulation and the Manual make clear that, if a
party of individuals is refused entry to a theater because one of
the individuals has cerebral palsy, the other individuals in the
party have an independent cause of action under the association
provision. Likewise, in the situation that you present, C would
have an independent cause of action because he has been denied
the "advantages" that car rental would provide for the planned
vacation experience. This conclusion assumes that the rental car
company acted with knowledge of C's "relationship or association"
with the individuals with disabilities.

We hope that this discussion is helpful to you.

Sincerely,

John L. Wodatch
Chief
Public Access Section