Lawyer sues OLR for disability discrimination

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A Rock County attorney is suing the Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation and one of its referees for disability discrimination.

Madaleine Mulrey and her attorney, Gary Grass of Siddique Law, filed a complaint in the Eastern District on Thursday. It accuses the OLR and James Evenson, the referee in her disciplinary case, of treating Mulrey as “less worthy” to practice law because of her disability and refusing to grant her request for an accommodation during the OLR’s investigation into a grievance against her.

The OLR charged Mulrey with four counts of misconduct in October for failing to properly represent a client and for not providing a timely response to the client’s grievance filed with the OLR. The organization requested a private reprimand as punishment.

Mulrey’s complaint said she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and that the OLR’s proceedings were aggravating her PTSD. She had been involved with the OLR for both the client’s grievance and a complaint she had filed against the attorney Tony Delyea, whom she had been sharing a house with for about a year.

The complaint said Mulrey was a witness against Delyea in a family-court matter, and he became abusive toward her and sabotaged two of her cases. She moved out and became “semi-homeless,” according to the complaint, staying with friends in Oklahoma.

In June of 2018, Mulrey met with the OLR to start a case against Delyea. The complaint said the investigator never sent her a copy of Delyea’s response to the grievance, and she believes the OLR never fully acted upon her complaint.

Meanwhile, the OLR began investigating the client’s grievance against Mulrey. As the proceedings continued, according to the complaint, Mulrey told the OLR five times about how recalling her abuse was aggravating her PTSD. In April 2020, she formally requested an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act to give her more time to respond. She made five total ADA requests, according to the complaint.

The OLR had granted several extensions throughout the investigation. In some instances, Mulrey said she sent responses, but the OLR did not receive them. Mulrey made her final ADA request in March 2021, attaching a letter from her former doctor. But Evenson found her to be in default in May, saying he’d send a report to the Wisconsin Supreme Court “soon.”

“Evenson’s order was based on an incorrect understanding of the ADA,” the complaint said. “Specifically, he sidestepped Mulrey’s ADA concerns by opining that only after a disability has been proven must a covered entity engage in any interactive process.”

Mulrey is asking the court to order the OLR to stay all disciplinary proceedings against her while the lawsuit is pending and void pevious actions by the OLR in the case to allow her accommodation. She’s also seeking an award of court costs, attorney fees and damages.

“On information and belief, the OLR treats attorneys who rely on personal trauma as part of a defense as less credible and less worthy to practice than attorneys who do not display signs of such a disability,” the complaint said.

The case has been assigned to Magistrate Judge Nancy Joseph. Summons were issued to the defendants on Monday.

The OLR declined to comment on the lawsuit. Follow @WLJReporter