A former Merchant Marine captain has prevailed in a shy bladder syndrome case, winning a $225,000 award from a jury that found his former employer liable for failing to accommodate his inability to urinate on demand.

Captain Joseph Kinneary's case appears to be the first to recognize shy bladder syndrome, or paruresis, as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. He was fired in March 2004 after years of clashing with the City of New York over providing urine samples for drug testing.

The ADA defines a disability as a mental or physical impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. No court precedent has declared urination a major life activity and a similar case filed against Caterpillar, Inc. settled in 2005 without going to trial.

The Manhattan jury awarded Kinneary $100,000 in back pay and $125,000 in non-economic damages, finding that the city of New York violated the ADA and both the New York state and city human rights laws.

According to the International Paruresis Association, seven percent of Americans suffer from the condition, which is classified as a social anxiety disorder by the American Psychiatric Association. "Many people have suffered, lost jobs or been demoted because of this disorder," says Dr. Stephen Soifer, executive director of the IPA.

A New Mexico jury in 2004 found under state law that paruresis is a "serious medical condition" and a hospital violated the rights of a doctor by refusing to accommodate it.

Kinneary, who was employed as captain of a sludge tanker by New York City's Department of Environmental Protection, alleged in his complaint that he has suffered from paruresis since 1971. He produced a urine sample for random drug screening in 1998, “but only after nearly three hours of trying,” the suit said.

After Kinneary failed to provide a urine sample in December 2001, he provided blood, hair and saliva samples that all tested negative for drugs. But the U.S. Coast Guard suspended his merchant mariner license in March 2003 and the city fired him while his application for a license renewal was pending.

“But for plaintiff's inability to urinate on demand, plaintiff's license would not have been suspended,” Kinneary alleged.

In March 2005, U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero dismissed the federal Department of Homeland Security from the case, finding Kinneary did not have a private right of action to challenge his license suspension under the Rehabilitation Act.

The IPA says on its website that “persons suffering from paruresis ... continually confront disbelief that they suffer from valid disabilities.” The award to Kinneary can only give credibility to the plight of paruresis sufferers.

By Matthew Heller
11/28/07