Legal Highlights

2024

March

  • The Delaware County prison and the private organization that ran the prison agreed to a settlement including policy changes and financial compensation for denying a man a kitchen job because he is living with HIV, and for disclosing his HIV status.

2023

July

  • After the drug company Gilead sent HIV-related mail to people enrolled in their patient assistance program, Gilead agreed to a $4 million settlement in a class action lawsuit filed AIDS Law Project, Langer Grogan and Berger Montague.

2022

October

  • After the AIDS Law Project filed a complaint with the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations on behalf of a disabled senior, a large non-profit health-care center agreed to a settlement for a therapist’s discriminatory treatment on the basis of sexual orientation.

2021

May

  • The AIDS Law Project settled a case on behalf of young immigrant woman whose HIV status was disclosed to visitors surrounding the delivery of her baby, resulting in employment and social losses.

2020

December

  • A Pennsylvania Medical Center agreed to a settlement for a doctor’s refusal to perform a needed anoscopy after the doctor learned the patient was living with HIV.  

February

  • The AIDS Law Project negotiated a settlement on behalf of a transgender woman living with HIV who became the subject of gossip in her community after her pharmacy left her medications in a public location of her apartment building in a bag that identified the contents.

2019

January

  • The AIDS Law Project settled a case on behalf of a recently widowed young mother whose in-laws withdrew all support after they learned she is living with HIV when a public health home nurse impermissibly disclosed her status.

2018

January

  • After a faulty mailing revealed the private medical information of thousands of its customers in what is believed to be the world’s largest HIV privacy data breach, Aetna Inc. agreed to a $17 million settlement of a class action lawsuit filed by the AIDS Law Project, Legal Action Center and Berger Montague.

2017

December

  • After protracted litigation by the AIDS Law Project, the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations ruled that a taxi company violated Philadelphia’s Fair Practices Ordinance when a driver kicked our client out of a car for greeting his same-gender partner with a kiss at the airport.

August

  • A residential care facility agreed to pay $30,000 to settle a claim by Certified Medical Assistant who was terminated days after he disclosed he had been diagnosed with HIV to his employer.

May

  • The AIDS Law Project settled a federal discrimination lawsuit on behalf of an Iraq war veteran who was denied aquatic therapy by a physical therapy practice because she is living with HIV.

2016

November

  • The AIDS Law Project negotiated a settlement on behalf of an HIV positive chef and his HIV negative fiancé who were both fired from their jobs at a small town country club because of the Chef’s HIV status.

April

  • After the AIDS Law Project filed a complaint with the PHRC and the DOJ, an OB/GYN practice agreed to pay 10,000 to a woman who had been refused a routine diagnostic test because of her HIV status.

2015

September

  • A Montgomery County hospital agreed to pay $25,000 to settle a claim on behalf of our client who said she was denied bariatric surgery because she is HIV positive.

July

  • The AIDS Law Project negotiated a settlement with a physical rehabilitation center on behalf of a woman who was denied access to the paraffin wax treatment because she has HIV. The rehab agreed to compensate the client, but changed its standards to require all patients to wear gloves for the paraffin wax treatment.

May

  • The AIDS Law Project negotiated a settlement on behalf of HIV-positive man and his HIV-negative wife and child who were dismissed from a medical practice because of the man’s HIV. The practice financially compensated the family and agreed to provide mandatory-attendance training for all staff.

2014

October

  • The AIDS Law Project negotiated a settlement on behalf of a man who was fired from job at a residential facility for troubled youth when his employer found out he has HIV. He got his job, back pay and compensatory damages.

September

  • The AIDS Law Project settled a case on behalf of a hospital patient with HIV who was recovering from surgery when his doctor disclosed his status to a visitor.

2013

May

  • The AIDS Law Project negotiated a settlement in the case of a national health care staffing firm that took back a job offer from an HIV-positive nursing assistant after learning he has HIV. In addition, the firm agreed to change its hiring policies.

2012

  • A 14-year-old and his mother, both our clients, received $700,000 from the Milton Hershey School in a federal AIDS-discrimination lawsuit settlement after the school refused to admit him solely because he has HIV.

2011

  • The AIDS Law Project persuaded the state of PA to revise regulations on occupational and professional licensing to protect workers and job applicants that are living with HIV.
  • The AIDS Law Project won a settlement for an HIV-positive single mother of four fired from her job at a snack-food manufacturer after her supervisors found out her status.

2010

  • The AIDS Law Project won another liver-transplant case for a client with HIV who had been denied by Medicare.
  • The AIDS Law Project won more than $60,000 for a woman who had been wrongfully kicked out of a personal care home because she has HIV.
  • Our work resulted in a financial services company being ordered to pay retirement money of a deceased doctor to his longtime partner, as he had intended, instead of his ex-wife, from whom he had been divorced for 25 years.

2009

  • After policy work by the AIDS Law Project, Pennsylvania decided to allow pharmacy sales of hypodermic needles and syringes without a prescription in an effort to help reduce the spread of HIV and of Hepatitis C.
  • Life Partners settles the M. Smith lawsuit for $250,000, allowing her to arrange for her own health insurance.
  • We “clear the path” for domestic partners to take advantage of a Philadelphia law exempting city tax on property transfers.

2008

  • The AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania negotiated another settlement in the unlawful firing of a food-service worker living with HIV.

2006

  • The case of M. Smith v. Life Partners drew international media attention to the work of the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania. The company had threatened to stop paying the client’s health insurance premiums.
  • We persuade Pennsylvania’s Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs not to enforce regulations that conflict with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) preventing people living with HIV from working in a number of fields, including barbering and cosmetology.
  • The AIDS Law Project settles a major ADA suit against the City of Philadelphia Emergency Medical Technicians, in which the City agrees to pay significant damages to the client, adhere to a nondiscrimination policy and train all personnel on infection control and HIV transmission.

2004

  • The AIDS Law Project wins a liver transplant for an Altoona man for whom Medicaid denied coverage. HIV is removed from the state’s list of “life-limiting conditions” as a result.

2003

  • The AIDS Law Project wins a financial settlement from a dentist who refused to treat a man living with AIDS.

2002 Legal Highlights

  • Names-based HIV reporting begins in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia is exempted.
  • The AIDS Law Project sues a bus company whose driver attempted to deny service to a group of HIV-activists traveling to a rally in Harrisburg.

2001 Legal Highlights

  • The AIDS Law Project fights name-based HIV test reports.
  • Client: A North Philadelphia man living with AIDS, refused access to a bus because the driver doesn’t believe he is disabled, is financially compensated and the bus company adopts an anti-discrimination policy.
  • Client: An HIV-positive Peruvian man living in South Philadelphia is granted asylum in the United States, sparing him deportation to an antagonistic regime.

1999 Legal Highlights

  • The Pennsylvania Legislature adopts the Standby Guardianship Law, proposed and drafted by the AIDS Law Project’s Parents with HIV/AIDS Project.
  • The AIDS Law Project negotiates a financial settlement for a Delaware County man who was fired from his job, after his partner was diagnosed with AIDS.

1997 Legal Highlights

  • The AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania initiated the South Jersey HIV Law Project in collaboration with the AIDS Coalition of Southern New Jersey, serving over 100 clients in its first year.
  • The AIDS Law Project created a comprehensive manual and two-day training for case managers and social workers on “Public Benefits Advocacy for People with HIV/AIDS” (in collaboration with Community Legal Services
  • The capacity of the Parents with HIV Project was increased to a staff of three attorneys and a half-time paralegal.
  • The AIDS Law Project created a monthly “Back to Work” seminar for people living with HIV/AIDS who are considering returning to work from disability because of improved health.
  • The AIDS Law Project co-created the HIV and Immigration Working Group with the GALAEI Project and produced a workshop on HIV and immigration.
  • The AIDS Law Project drafted and worked toward passage of a Standby Guardian Law by the Pennsylvania legislators to provide a law to allow terminally ill parents to plan for the future care of their children.

1995 Legal Highlights

  • The AIDS Law Project sues the 12th Street Gym for AIDS discrimination.

1994 Legal Highlights

  • An AIDS discrimination case brought by the AIDS Law Project with the Justice Department against Philadelphia emergency medical technicians results in the first consent decree under the ADA.

1993 Legal Highlights

  • The Philadelphia District EEOC Office finds that limiting health insurance coverage based on HIV/AIDS violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

1990 Legal Highlights

  • The AIDS Law Project files suit against a dentist who refuses to treat patients living with HIV.

1989 Legal Highlights

  • The AIDS Law Project files suit against a funeral home that allows a family to mourn over an empty coffin.

1988 Legal Highlights

  • The AIDS Law Project brings suits against Pennsylvania physicians for secret HIV testing.