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Paul, Weiss Files Landmark Eighth Amendment, ADA Action Against New York Jail Over Discriminatory Denial of Opioid Use Disorder Medication
- Client News
- February 22, 2024
Practices
Paul, Weiss filed a lawsuit against the Fulton County Correctional Facility (FCCF) and certain of its employees for violating the Eighth Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment, Americans with Disabilities Act, Rehabilitation Act, and New York Human Rights Law after the defendants withheld the plaintiff’s life-saving medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) multiple times over multiple years. Co-counsel includes the Legal Action Center.
The lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of New York on behalf of pro bono client Koree Wilson who suffered horrific forced withdrawals during incarcerations in 2021 and 2022 at FCCF despite his opioid use disorder diagnosis and methadone prescription. The lawsuit aims to curb the correctional facility’s flagrant and discriminatory practice of withholding MOUD from persons in its custody, build on recent precedent that forced deprivation of MOUD constitutes Eighth Amendment and ADA violations, serve as a deterrent for other jails and prisons, and compensate the plaintiff for the injuries he suffered at the defendants’ hands.
The Paul, Weiss team is led by partner Gregory Laufer and includes associates Ariane Rockoff-Kirk, Taylor Dow, Charles Thau and Agnes Lee.