Also known as: disabilities · disable · disabled · disables · disabling · disablement · disabled person · incapacity
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities or renders a person unable to perform required legal functions or duties.
After the President suffers a stroke that leaves him unable to discharge the powers of the office, the Vice President assumes acting duties under the constitutional provision addressing disability. The cabinet certifies the impairment, and Congress reviews the determination within the required timeframe.
A judge presiding over a personal-injury trial repeatedly refers to the plaintiff's mobility limitations in a mocking tone during witness questioning. The remarks prompt a misconduct complaint because they manifest prejudice based on disability in the performance of judicial duties.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
During a deposition, a lawyer repeatedly mocks opposing counsel's use of a service animal and questions her competence because of her visual impairment. The conduct triggers disciplinary proceedings under the rule prohibiting disability-based harassment in the practice of law.
An offeror suffers a debilitating brain injury in an accident before the offeree accepts the offer to purchase equipment. The offeree's subsequent acceptance is ineffective because the offeror's incapacity terminates the power of acceptance under the governing contract rule.
A driver who has lost the use of one arm due to a prior injury collides with a pedestrian while attempting a turn. In the resulting negligence action, the court measures the driver's conduct against the standard of a reasonable person under the same physical disability rather than an able-bodied driver.
A trust remainder beneficiary develops a permanent disability requiring expensive ongoing medical care that would rapidly deplete the trust corpus. The court authorizes conversion of the outright remainder into a special-needs trust to preserve assets and fulfill the settlor's intent under the equitable-deviation doctrine.
When an actor is physically disabled, the applicable standard is that of a reasonable person under the same disability rather than an able-bodied standard. This adjusted measure determines whether the actor's conduct constitutes negligence.
Yes. Death or incapacity of the offeror or offeree terminates the offeree's power of acceptance unless the offer is an option contract that expressly preserves the power.
A judge may not manifest bias or prejudice based on disability through words or conduct while performing judicial duties, and must prevent court staff from doing so as well.
A lawyer engages in professional misconduct by knowingly harassing or discriminating on the basis of disability in conduct related to the practice of law.
A court may modify dispositive provisions of a trust when circumstances such as a beneficiary's disability were not anticipated by the settlor and modification will further the trust's purposes by preserving assets.
…general principles of law. This view is not novel. In 1792 an act directing the Secretary at War to place on the pension list disabled officers reported by the circuit courts was deemed unconstitutional so far as it imposed duties on the courts, and after a repeal Congress provided a different mode and enacted that the…