article: On January 7, 1999 several individuals eligible to participate in Medicaid because of disabilities and an advocacy organization for disabled individuals filed suit against New Mexico, the New Mexico Department of Health, and the New Mexico Department of Human Services in the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico. They alleged that the defendants had violated 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Medicaid Act, and the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Specifically they claimed that the defendants provided community-based treatment to individuals with disabilities authorized as waiver services in a way that prevented disabled individuals from receiving these services in a reasonably prompt manner. They sought declaratory and injunctive relief. On April 24, 2000 the district court (Judge Martha Alicia Vazquez) granted in part and denied in part the defendants' motion to dismiss. The defendants appealed the ruling denying their sovereign immunity claims but on August 16, 2001 the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals (Judges Tacha, Pulitz, and Lucero) affirmed the district court. On November 5, 2002 the district court granted the defendants summary judgment as to claims by plaintiffs who had since received the desired services or were deceased but denied the defendants' motion to dismiss the claim of the advocacy organization for lack of standing. Discovery proceeded until the district court (Judge Vazquez) granted the plaintiffs summary judgment on two counts and the defendants summary judgment on one count on August 5, 2003. On February 4, 2004 the district court (Judge Vazquez) entered judgment in favor of the plaintiffs and ordered the defendants to evaluate applicants for waiver services within 90 days and then provide them with such services when appropriate within 90 days. The district court (Judge Vazquez) denied the plaintiffs motion to find the defendants in contempt on September 7, 2005 and found the defendants to be in compliance with the judgment on October 21, 2005.
summary: On January 7, 1999 several disabled individuals eligible to participate in Medicaid and an advocacy organization for disabled individuals filed suit against New Mexico and two state agencies in the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico. They alleged that the defendants had failed to provide community-based services to disabled individuals in a reasonably prompt manner. On April 24, 2000 the district court granted in part and denied in part the defendants' motion to dismiss and on August 16, 2001 the Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court. The district court granted the plaintiffs summary judgment on two counts and the defendants summary judgment on one count on August 5, 2003 and on February 4, 2004 entered judgment in favor of the plaintiffs and ordered the defendants to provide the services in a timely manner. On October 21, 2005 the district court found the defendants to be in compliance with the judgment.