Va. Supreme Court to hear access lawsuit filed against Va. Lottery

Four handicapped Virginians who believe they have as much right to win or lose in the Virginia Lottery as anyone else are bringing their case to the Virginia Supreme Court.

They complain that many lottery outlets are not accessible to people who use wheelchairs and to other handicapped people, denying them equal access to tickets in violation of both national and state disabilities acts.

Last year, Judge Margaret P. Spencer of Richmond Circuit Court tossed out a suit filed in 2005 against the lottery. Tomorrow morning, the state Supreme Court justices will be asked to reverse the judge.

According to lawyers for the plaintiffs, the lottery said that in 1999 and 2000 it surveyed 3,660 lottery retailers and found that 93.4 percent had accessibility problems.

The lottery had $1.4 billion in sales in fiscal year 2008 and retailers made $77.7 million in commissions.

Jonathan Martinis, a lawyer with the Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy which is representing the four plaintiffs, declined to comment as did one of his clients because the case is pending before the high court.

Likewise, the Virginia attorney general's office, representing the Virginia Lottery and officials at the Virginia Lottery itself, also declined to comment.

Advocates for the handicapped, however, were under no such restraint. Tennie Gratz, a community advocate with The disAbility Resource Center in Fredericksburg, said disabilities acts were passed, "so that everyone has the same rights to do what they want to do."

Karen Michaelski-Karney, executive director of the Blue Ridge Independent Living Center in Roanoke, said, "It's kind of bothersome that the state of Virginia would do business with businesses that are not accessible to individuals with disabilities."

In their initial suit, the four identified 16 lottery retailers -- convenience stores and/or gas stations -- where they allege they were denied access to tickets because the retailers lacked legally required accommodations such as accessible parking spaces, ramps and paths of travel.

The lottery argues it is not its legal responsibility to make sure that retailers are accessible to the handicapped.

The lottery says the retailers are private commercial entities and that the lottery has no power to order changes. The attorney general's office said the four are free to sue the retailers, but not the lottery.

Last April, Spencer ruled, among other things, that the lottery does not fall under the disabilities acts in question and that it is the retailer that is responsible for selling tickets to the buyers and making sure all have access.

The four appealed to the Virginia Supreme Court. They cite part of the Americans with Disabilities Act which reads: "No qualified individual with a disability shall, by reason of such disability, be excluded from participation in or denied the benefits of services, programs or activities of a public entity."

The attorney general's office counters in its brief that: "Simply put, the Circuit Court ruled . . . the Virginia Lottery does not control the day-to-day physical operations of each of the approximately 5,000 lottery retailers in Virginia."

The state argues, "the real remedy sought by [the plaintiffs] is the retrofitting, renovation, or alteration of the physical facilities of any Lottery retailer which may be shown to be accessibility deficient," they wrote.

That is something disabilities law cannot require, argues the attorney general.

Contact Frank Green at (804) 649-6340 or .