Legal Capacity Litigation

Respect choice. Honor decisions. Advance self-determination.

CPR has initiated or participated in landmark cases that established new rights for individuals under guardianship or challenged other mechanisms that limit individual choice and autonomy.  For example, CPR successfully defended a woman who did not want to be shocked with an electric device, as advocated by her guardian and her treatment team at the Judge Rotenberg Center – the only facility in the United States that administers electric shock as a form of aversive conditioning on people with disabilities.  CPR also represented the first Massachusetts resident to successfully petition for the termination  of his guardianship in favor of Supported Decision-Making (SDM).

Massachusetts appeals courts have been among the most active in the country in expanding the rights of people under guardianship and in defining the procedures that must be followed to appoint a guardian.  CPR has litigated many of those cases, often by submitting “friend of the court” briefs in these cases.  State and federal courts have frequently cited treatises, law review articles, briefs, and other publications authored by CPR in cases involving the rights, freedom, and autonomy of individuals with disabilities. CPR’s staff also provides technical assistance on legal cases involving guardianship and alternatives to disability rights organizations across the country.