Disability Law United is filing a lawsuit on behalf of Elizabeth Lesperance, Aislinn Brooks, Mika Pyyhkala, and the National Federation of the Blind of Massachusetts against Cornerstone Ranch, LLC, Bobby’s Ranch, Inc., and the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR), after two Massachusetts stables refused to let blind riders join guided trail rides open to the public. The suit argues that turning away qualified blind riders based solely on their blindness violates the Americans with Disabilities Act and Massachusetts civil rights and public accommodations laws, and that MDAR compounded the harm by suggesting to a licensee that accommodating a blind rider would be unsafe and could cost it its license.
The complaint describes how Elizabeth Lesperance, who has been blind since birth, booked a trail ride at Cornerstone Ranch for a friend’s birthday and, less than a day before the ride, was told by text and email that “rides are not for blind riders.” Cornerstone refunded her ticket only after deducting its booking fees. Months earlier, Mika Pyyhkala — also blind since birth, and an avid runner, skier, and equestrian — contacted Bobby’s Ranch as its website instructed riders with disabilities to do, only to be told the ranch was not licensed or insured to accommodate blind riders.
When Lesperance and Pyyhkala demanded the ranches change their policies, Cornerstone Ranch’s owner said she had been advised by MDAR’s Equine Program Coordinator that permitting a blind rider would be an unsafe, negligent practice that could cost the ranch its license — guidance MDAR later disputed giving. DLU argues that by failing to clearly instruct its licensees that they cannot categorically exclude blind riders, MDAR is administering a licensing program that has the effect of subjecting people with disabilities to discrimination, in violation of the ADA and Massachusetts law.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Lesperance, Brooks, Pyyhkala, and NFBMA, seeks to bar Cornerstone Ranch and Bobby’s Ranch from continuing to exclude blind riders, to compel MDAR to adopt and communicate policies requiring individualized assessment and reasonable accommodation of riders with disabilities, and to recover damages and attorneys’ fees.
Massachusetts Superior Court, Suffolk County.