Chen v. University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
GALVESTON DIVISION
VIVIAN CHEN,
Plaintiff.
V.
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MEDICAL
BRANCH (UTMB),
Defendant.
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CIVIL ACTION NO. 3:25-cv-00340
OPINION AND ORDER
Defendant University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) moves to dismiss
Plaintiff 	Vivian 	Chen’s 	failure-to-accommodate 	claim 	under 	Title 	II 	of 	the
Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) on sovereign immunity grounds. See Dkt.
13. For the reasons discussed below, UTMB’s motion is denied.
BACKGROUND1
Chen, a doctoral student at UTMB, is deaf. Her native language is American
Sign Language (“ASL”). Throughout her academic career, Chen has benefited from
accommodations like ASL interpreters and Communication Access Realtime
Translation (“CART”) services. Prior to beginning medical school at UTMB in
August 	2024, 	Chen 	“provided 	timely 	notice 	of 	her 	accommodation 	needs,
requesting ASL interpreters and CART services . . . , giving UTMB ample time to
arrange appropriate services.” Dkt. 7 at 4.
Chen alleges that “UTMB has maintained a pattern of failure to provide
effective communication.” Id. Chen highlights three specific instances when UTMB
disregarded Chen’s need for accommodation. The first instance occurred at Chen’s
August 26, 2024 orientation, when “UTMB canceled scheduled ASL interpreters
1 This background section is taken from Chen’s amended complaint, which is the operative
pleading. See Dkt. 7. At the motion to dismiss stage, I take all of Chen’s well-pleaded
factual allegations as true.
United States District Court
Southern District of Texas
ENTERED
April 06, 2026
Nathan Ochsner, Clerk
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without adequate notice” and “substituted remote CART” instead. 2 Id. The second
took place on September 3, 2024, the first day of classes, when Chen was not
provided an interpreter or CART (remote or onsite), and was instead “directed to
use Propio ONE, a Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) service.” Id. The third time
Chen did not receive accommodation was during an October 3, 2024 cadaver lab.
On September 12, 2024, Chen documented the inadequacies of UTMB’s
substitute accommodations, including “that the provided VRI and automated
captioning resulted in a 30% error rate in technical medical terminology.” Id. at 5.
Chen also noted that “alternatives relying on personal devices were prohibited in
critical settings like the cadaver laboratory, rendering them entirely useless.” Id.
Chen was ultimately “forced to rely on her classmates for note-taking and
impromptu 	interpretation 	of 	classroom 	content,” 	which 	“imposed 	an
inappropriate burden on both Ms. Chen and her classmates, and did not provide
Ms. Chen with equal access to her educational program.” Id.
At the risk of stating the obvious, accuracy is important in the medical
profession and, in turn, medical education. As Chen explains in her pleading:
CART services provide essential access in lecture-based settings
where 	precise 	medical 	terminology, 	drug 	names 	with 	similar
spellings, dosages, and procedural steps must be captured verbatim.
In biochemistry and pharmacology courses, where a single letter
difference distinguishes between medications with vastly different
effects, CART’s accurate transcription becomes critical for patient
safety 	training. 	The 	searchable 	transcripts 	CART 	generates 	are
necessary study tools when examinations test specific phrasing,
definitions, or quotations from professors.
ASL interpreters are indispensable for interactive learning
environments that constitute the majority of medical training. In
anatomy laboratories, Ms. Chen requires both hands to be free for
dissection while receiving real-time instruction on three-dimensional
anatomical relationships, making it impossible to simultaneously
hold a device to read CART. During clinical skills training, where Ms.
2 With remote CART, the captioner is offsite and captions are streamed back in real time.
With on-site CART, the captioner is physically present in the same room as the individuals
receiving the captions.
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Chen must perform physical examinations while receiving feedback.
ASL interpreters can maintain positioning within her sightline while
her hands remain engaged in medical procedures.
Clinical rotations and patient interactions specifically require
ASL 	interpreters 	to 	preserve 	the 	therapeutic 	relationship 	while
conveying not merely words but critical nonverbal communication,
emotional tone, and urgency essential to medical practice.
Id. at 6–7 (cleaned up).
On October 8, 2024—26 days after Chen documented the inadequacy of
UTMB’s 	alternative 	accommodations—“UTMB 	prematurely 	terminated
discussions [with Chen regarding her preferred accommodations] by invoking an
‘undue burden.’” Id. at 8. Chen contends that “UTMB’s determination was made
without any documented analysis of the University’s $3.3 billion operating
budget.” Id. “At no point between September 12, 2024, and October 8, 2024, did
UTMB attempt to test, evaluate, or modify the alternatives it had offered in
response to Ms. Chen’s documented concerns.” Id. at 9. On October 14, 2024,
Deputy ADA Officer Tammie J. Collins formally denied Chen’s request for ASL
interpreters and CART services.
Chen and her family paid $19,260 during the 2024–2025 academic year to
secure CART services for Chen. Chen continues to incur thousands of dollars in
costs to obtain these services during the current 2025–2026 academic year. “Based
on current costs, Ms. Chen faces projected expenses exceeding $75,000 over her
four-year doctoral program if UTMB’s discrimination continues.” Id. at 10. Chen
contends that UTMB has “effectively imposed a surcharge on [her] due to her
disability, which is explicitly prohibited by 28 C.F.R. § 35.130(f).” Id. Chen also
alleges 	that 	UTMB’s 	claim 	of 	undue 	burden 	is 	a 	pretext 	for 	disability
discrimination because the cost of Chen’s preferred accommodations represents
only 0.0006% of UTMB’s total operating budget and only 0.023% of UTMB’s net
investment income. See id. at 11–12.
On October 17, 2024, Chen’s counsel “sent a detailed letter to UTMB,
contesting the denial [of Chen’s preferred accommodations] and outlining UTMB’s
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legal obligations.” Id. at 12. After receiving no response, Chen’s counsel “sent a
follow-up letter in November 2024.” Id. Chen then “filed an internal complaint
alleging discrimination based on disability and failure to engage in the interactive
process.” Id. UTMB’s Department of Internal Investigations (DII) issued findings
on June 11, 2025. While the DII concluded that UTMB’s ADA office “met a
‘minimum threshold’ for engagement, the DII acknowledged deficiencies, noting
it ‘would have been more prudent for the ADA office to continue extending the
officer to engage in the process.” Id. To date, UTMB continues to refuse to provide
Chen with ASL interpreters or CART services.
On October 16, 2025, Chen instituted this lawsuit. Chen asserts two failure-
to-accommodate claims—one under Title II of the ADA and the other under
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. UTMB moves to dismiss only the Title II
claim on the grounds that state sovereign immunity deprives this court of subject
matter jurisdiction.3 See Dkt. 13. Chen filed a response to UTMB’s motion to
dismiss. See Dkt. 14. UTMB has not filed a reply brief.
LEGAL STANDARD
A. 	R ULE 12(b)(1)
“Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. They possess only that
power authorized by Constitution and statute, which is not to be expanded by
judicial decree.” Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am., 511 U.S. 375, 377
(1994) (cleaned up). Dismissal under Rule 12(b)(1) for lack of subject matter
jurisdiction is proper “when the court lacks the statutory or constitutional power
to adjudicate the case.” Home Builders Ass’n of Miss., Inc. v. City of Madison, 143
F.3d 1006, 1010 (5th Cir. 1998). A Rule 12(b)(1) challenge may either be facial or
factual. See Paterson v. Weinberger, 644 F.2d 521, 523 (5th Cir. 1981). The
challenge at issue here is facial, meaning I rely only on the pleadings rather than
3 “UTMB concedes it is a state entity that accepts federal funding and thus has waived
sovereign immunity under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.” Dkt. 13 at 4 n.1.
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extrinsic evidence, accepting Chen’s well-pleaded factual allegations as true and
viewing them in the light most favorable to her. See id.
B. 	S OVEREIGN I MMUNITY AND TITLE II
“Eleventh Amendment sovereign immunity deprives a federal court of
jurisdiction to hear a suit against a state.” Warnock v. Pecos County, 88 F.3d 341,
343 (5th Cir. 1996). “The Eleventh Amendment bars an individual from suing a
state in federal court unless the state consents to suit or Congress has clearly and
validly abrogated the state’s sovereign immunity.” Perez v. Region 20 Educ. Serv.
Ctr., 307 F.3d 318, 326 (5th Cir. 2002).
Title II of the ADA provides that “no qualified individual with a disability
shall, by reason of such disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied
the benefits of the services, programs, or activities of a public entity, or be
subjected to discrimination by any such entity.” 42 U.S.C. § 12132. The term
“public entity” includes “any department, agency, . . . or other instrumentality of a
State or States or local government.” Id. § 12131(1)(B).
The Supreme Court has held that, “insofar as Title II creates a private cause
of action for damages against the States for conduct that actually violates the
Fourteenth Amendment, Title II validly abrogates state sovereign immunity.”
United States v. Georgia, 546 U.S. 151, 159 (2006). Georgia lays out a three-part
test to determine if sovereign immunity is abrogated under Title II of the ADA.
Under Georgia, I must determine:
(1) which aspects of the State’s alleged conduct violated Title II; (2) to
what 	extent 	such 	misconduct 	also 	violated 	the 	Fourteenth
Amendment; and (3) insofar as such misconduct violated Title II but
did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment, whether Congress’s
purported abrogation of sovereign immunity as to that class of
conduct is nevertheless valid.
Id. at 159.
ANALYSIS
UTMB argues that it is entitled to sovereign immunity from Chen’s Title II
failure-to-accommodate 	claim. 	To 	determine 	whether 	UTMB’s 	sovereign
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immunity has been abrogated, I must apply the three-part test set out in Georgia.
The first step concerns whether Chen has alleged conduct that plausibly violates
Title II.
To plausibly state a Title II failure-to-accommodate claim, Chen must allege
facts showing that: (1) she is a qualified individual with a disability; (2) the
disability and its consequential limitations were known UTMB; and (3) UTMB
failed to make reasonable accommodations. Smith v. Harris County, 956 F.3d 311,
317 (5th Cir. 2020). “UTMB concedes that [Chen] has established the first two
elements of her failure-to-accommodate claim.” Dkt. 13 at 6–7. Thus, I need to
ascertain only whether Chen has alleged that UTMB failed to make reasonable
accommodations.
Chen alleges that she requested ASL interpreters and CART services, but
UTMB denied her requests, citing an undue financial burden without providing
any financial analysis, and instead offering less effective alternatives. UTMB
retorts that it “violate[s] the ADA only when [it is] ‘unwilling to engage in a good
faith interactive process.’” Dkt. 13 at 8 (quoting Thompson v. Microsoft Corp., 2
F.4th 460, 468–69 (5th Cir. 2021)) (cleaned up). UTMB contends that because it
willingly engaged in the interactive process with Chen, “UTMB’s conduct did not
violate Title II of the ADA, and sovereign immunity is not abrogated.” Dkt. 13 at 8.
Chen’s allegations suggest otherwise.
Chen alleges that UTMB began substituting its alternative accommodations
for Chen’s preferred accommodations on her first day of medical school on August
26, 2024. Less than two months later, Deputy ADA Officer Collins formally denied
Chen’s request for ASL interpreters and CART services citing undue burden. Chen
avers that UTMB’s undue burden claim is pretextual because UTMB has never
provided a “detailed financial analysis” as to why it cannot provide Chen’s
preferred accommodations. Dkt. 7 at 16.
It is true that Title II “does not require [UTMB] to take any action that it can
demonstrate would result in a fundamental alteration in the nature of a service,
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program, or activity or in undue financial and administrative burdens.” 28 C.F.R.
§ 35.164. But “where personnel of [UTMB] believe that the proposed action would
. . . result in undue financial and administrative burdens, [UTMB] has the burden
of proving that compliance with this subpart would result in such alteration or
burdens.” Id. UTMB has never satisfied its burden to prove that Chen’s requested
accommodations would result in undue burden. Nor did UTMB bother to respond
to this argument by filing a reply brief. Indeed, “UTMB’s own internal investigation
(DII) found that it ‘would have been more prudent for the ADA office to continue
extending the offer to engage in the process.’” Dkt. 7 at 16. Considering these facts,
it is plausible that UTMB failed to engage in good faith in the interactive process,
which would constitute a violation of Title II.
Because UTMB does not address Georgia’s second and third prongs, I see
no need to belabor my analysis. See United States v. Sineneng-Smith, 590 U.S. 371,
376 (2020) (“Courts are essentially passive instruments of government. They . . .
normally decide only questions presented by the parties.” (cleaned up)). I agree
with Chen, however, that UTMB’s alleged differential treatment of her, coupled
with 	UTMB’s 	abrupt 	termination 	of 	the 	interactive 	process 	and 	refusal 	to
substantiate how Chen’s preferred accommodations are unduly burdensome,
“plausibly impl[ies] that she was irrationally deprived of [equal protection under
the law].” Pickett v. Tex. Tech Univ. Health Scis. Ctr., 37 F.4th 1013, 1037 (5th Cir.
2022); see also City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Ctr., 473 U.S. 432, 446 (1985)
(“The State may not rely on a classification whose relationship to an asserted goal
is so attenuated as to render the distinction arbitrary or irrational.”). “[B]ecause
[Chen]’s allegations do not permit [me] to assume that [UTMB] did not violate her
[equal protection] rights,” UTMB is “not entitled to sovereign immunity at this
stage of the litigation.” Pickett, 37 F.4th at 1019.4
4 If the issue were before me—and it’s not before me, because UTMB mentions the
Fourteenth Amendment in its motion only to articulate Georgia’s test—I would conclude
that UTMB’s alleged conduct violates both Title II and the Fourteenth Amendment.
Accordingly, Georgia’s third prong is irrelevant to this case. See Georgia, 546 U.S. at 159
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CONCLUSION
For the reasons discussed above, UTMB’s motion to dismiss (Dkt. 13) Chen’s
Title II claim is denied.
SIGNED this 	day of April 2026.
______________________________
ANDREW M. EDISON
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
(the third prong is relevant only “insofar as [the alleged] misconduct violated Title II but
did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment”).
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