Continuing a disturbing trend, another recent case finds that an architect is not liable for a design that failed to comply with the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (RA). In Chicago Housing Authority v. DeStefano & Partners, Ltd. (here), an Illinois appellate court followed several other federal and state decisions in holding that only the project developer is liable for ADA and RA defects. The developer’s duty under the Acts is non-delegable, according to the courts’ interpretation of the language of the Acts, and any attempt to seek indemnity or contribution (or any other legal remedy) from the offending architect will be dismissed.  These holdings rest on flimsy support in the Acts themselves, and diverge from many other statutory and regulatory building mandates, including building codes meant to provide life/safety protection, which allow owners and developers to seek a remedy against the party(ies) they relied upon (and paid) to design and construct the buildings properly.  The better policy—and the legally correct result—would be to hold owners, developers, architects and contractors all liable for ADA and RA defects.  This result ensures proper motivation for all players to get it right, increases the availability of insurance and other assets to pay for the remedy, and allows long-standing principles of indemnity and contribution to be allocated by contract and legislated under state law.