Follow-up on epilepsy as disability

The 7th Circuit’s decision yesterday in Sanglap v. LaSalle Bank, FSB, (7th Cir. 9/30/03) illustrates a situation where someone with epilepsy might come closer to proving disability than the case I commented on the other day.

This was an intentional infliction of emotional distress claim arising out of a bank’s decision to close the account of a longtime customer because he had suffered four epileptic seizures in the bank’s lobby.

While the act of banking is probably not a major life activity, one wonders how often he suffered seizures elsewhere and how it impacted other aspects of his life.

This case is also instructive on the importance of careful selection of legal theories and pleading.

Here the plaintiff won an $80,000 jury verdict, only to lose it on a post-trial motion and appeal, in part because his state law tort claim was preempted by the Illinois Human Rights Act. He should have claimed disability discrimination by a financial institution under that act.

Epilepsy, like mental illness, still bears special stigma. This suburban bank manager feared it would freak out his customers if this guy had more seizures in the bank. Would he close an account of a guy who had a non-fatal heart attack in the bank? Doubt it. A harmless schizophrenic who talked to himself? Maybe.

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