Lawsuit: DPC vs MEMA
The Disability Policy Consortium, Inc. filed lawsuit in Superior Court on April 6, 2007 against the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency over the Agency’s unwillingness to make emergency management information available to the public.
The DPC requested lists of emergency shelters from MEMA in October, 2006. MEMA denied that request and directing the Plaintiff to the American Red Cross which is the agency delegate with maintaining shelter lists under Massachusetts Emergency Support Function 6, MASS CARE. The Red Cross also refused to provide emergency shelter lists. MEMA also refused to turn the documents over to the Commonwealth’s Supervisor of Public Records (Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth) claiming they were exempt from public document law and refusing his request to review them in camera because they were too numerous.
The Plaintiffs allege
It is a perversion of the mandate for state and local government to protect the lives and well-being of all of its citizens in times of natural and manmade disasters to not ensure that individuals with disabilities are as adequately protected as non-disabled individuals. Similarly, it is a perversion of the policy behind the enactment of exemption (n) to allow the state and local governments to use that statute to prevent individuals with disabilities from overcoming their justifiable insecurity that in the event of an emergency or catastrophe the necessary and accessible services and accommodations for their health and well-being will not be in place.
People with disabilities are extremely concerned about the readiness of the State and Local emergency preparedness agencies to meet the needs of people with disabilities. “Hurricanes Katrina and Rita demonstrated that it is the most vulnerable in our society, people who are poor, elderly and/or have a disability who pay with their lives.” said John Winske, President of the DPC
The complete Superior Court filing is here:
Word: MEMA Lawsuit
Request for Documents
Request for Admission
PDF: MEMA Lawsuit
Scanned Word Doc: Settlement Proposal
MEMA Settlement
The Disability Policy Consortium reached a settlement of its lawsuit against the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. As part of the agreement, MEMA agreed to review its records and provide a list of shelters for each city and town in the Commonwealth.
The report is here as an Excel spreadsheet.
Please note that the blank columns indicate data that is not on the Emergency Plans on file with the state. "Has LOA" is an indicator that a "Letter Of Agreement" between the community and the shelter own exists.
Data from Boston, Worcester & Springfield was not provided. We have requested an explanation.
The information is presented alphabetically by Community and on a second worksheet, by Region and Community.