(DOWNLOAD) "Cousins v. Secretary of United States Department of Transportation" by United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Cousins v. Secretary of United States Department of Transportation
- Author : United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
- Release Date : January 24, 1989
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 80 KB
Description
Appellant Michael Cousins, who is deaf, obtained a Maine drivers license permitting him to drive a truck with a tractor trailer. A federal Department of Transportation (DOT) rule, however, prevents him from working as a truck driver. 49 C.F.R. § 391.41(b)(11) (1987) (a "person is physically qualified to drive a motor vehicle if that person. .. first perceives a forced whispered voice in the better ear at not less than 5 feet"). Although the DOT regulations allow drivers to apply for a waiver of some of the required physical qualifications, they do not allow waiver of the requirement that excludes deaf persons. 49 C.F.R. § 391.49(a). Cousins, nonetheless, asked for a waiver, DOT refused to consider his request, and Cousins then sued DOT in the Maine federal district court, claiming that DOTs regulations and its refusal to grant him a waiver violate the Constitutions Fifth Amendment and § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which says that