Quadriplegic man wins $800k verdict in KCPS trial

A quadriplegic Kansas City Public Schools guidance counselor was awarded $806,075 in damages Wednesday following an eight-day disability discrimination trial in Jackson County Circuit Court.

The jury awarded plaintiff Joseph D. Baldridge $230,000 in compensatory damages and $576,075 in punitive damages, court records show. Eleven of the 12 jurors agreed with the verdict.

Baldridge sued the school district and four district officials in 2014. The four officials were dismissed from the suit prior to trial.

His dispute with the school district began in December 2012, when he was injured while being transported by a gurney when a school elevator was inoperable. He was placed on medical leave for several weeks.

After the incident, he alleged the district began to treat him as a liability.

According to his petition, he was given a negative evaluation for missing too much work in connection with the injury and told by a principal that a full-time paraprofessional assisting him would need to help him down the stairs in the event of a fire because of his “delicate physical condition.”

The district later decided to stop providing the accommodation of a paraprofessional to Baldridge and placed him on administrative leave with pay. The paraprofessional had been assigned to work with him full time to assist him with clerical duties, eating, drinking, and helping him with his hand brace and coat.

Court records said at the time of the suit, Baldridge had been a quadriplegic for about 39 years, and had no function of his fingers or hands or upper and lower extremities. He had worked for the district for several years.

He alleged he was not considered for other job openings in accessible schools, he was denied opportunities for professional development and that he was temporarily placed at a high school without accommodations.

In their response to the suit, the district denied his claim about the negative evaluation and said the principal discussed the district policy of the use of the school’s specialized equipment to evacuate the building in an emergency.

It admitted to questioning Baldridge’s need for accommodations and placing him on leave as it investigated whether reasonable accommodations could be found.

Further, the district denied it did nothing to accommodate him at his temporary placement or kept opportunities from him.

An incident outlined in the petition where Baldridge alleges he was not made aware of training at his new placement and was excluded was explained as oversight, that Baldridge was not yet added to his new school’s email groups, the answer said.

In their motion for summary judgment, the district argued that a dedicated paraprofessional was an unreasonable accommodation and that Baldridge was unable to perform essential functions of his job because he was excessively absent.

The district also argued that his placement on paid leave was not an adverse employment action.

Anne Schiavone of Holman Schiavone in Kansas City represented Baldridge. She said they were pleased by the outcome and impressed by the jury’s hard work over their eight hours of deliberations.

“I have never seen a jury be so engaged and work so hard,” she said.

She asked the jury for a range of about $100,000 to $200,000 separately for emotional damages and deprivation of civil rights, and up to $4 million in punitive damages. She guessed the jury settled on the punitive damages figure because they didn’t want to hurt the district’s students.

“As soon as they said ‘Plaintiff,’ (reading the verdict) it was all gravy,” she said. “I was just so thankful he can go to work and know that they did not do the right thing by him, and hopefully put accommodations in place (for him).”

Ivan Nugent represented the school district. He also declined to comment.

The case is Joseph D. Baldridge v. Kansas City Public Schools et al., 1416-CV14004.