ADA Defense Law

It’s probably fair to say that the U.S.A. is the World’s leading proponent for capitalism and private enterprise. As President Reagan famously asserted in his 1981 inaugural address, “government is not the solution to the problem; government is the problem.” And of course there was Grover Norquist in 2001 asserting “I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.” By 2012, 95% of all Republican members of Congress had signed Norquist’s pledge to oppose any increase in personal or business taxes. The fall of the Soviet Union and the embrace of capitalism in China both reinforced the U.S.A.’s belief in private enterprise.

There’s been no slow down in the number of accessibility lawsuits filed during the Corona Virus Stay-at-Home mandate.  Process servers have been out serving lawsuits but hopefully not spreading the virus.  At least thus far.  A lot of the traditional accessibility lawsuits are being filed.  Most of the lawsuits I’m seeing are focusing on parking lot and common area issues.  So that means property owners need to be extra vigilant.  It’s not like the old days when the question was simply whether you had a disabled space (although there are still a few of those, particularly in more industrial businesses).  Now the lawsuits focus on technical compliance, i.e., the right number of disabled spaces (at least 1 van accessible space no matter how few customer spaces you have), the right size, the right striping, the right color and symbols, the right signage, and the right slope – sloping issues are probably the most common lawsuit issue I’m seeing now.  It’s important that you not only make sure the disabled – accessible parking is correct when it is installed, but get it re-checked every couple of years.  Faded paint and asphalt sagging (leading to sloping issues) can get you sued.  Hiring a Certified Access Specialist (CASp) to inspect your property is still a good idea.  Checking your lease/s for how disabled access responsibility is allocated is also a good idea.  If you have a commercial property and you haven’t been sued you will be unless you keep your property fully in compliance with accessibility requirements.

The Riverside District Attorney’s Office has taken a momentous step in curbing abusive ADA litigation.  On April 24, 2019, The DA’s office  filed a lawsuit against Craig Gerald Cote, 67, of Huntington Beach, Babak Hashemi, 40, Joseph Richard Manning, 50, Michael John Manning, 43, and James Rutherford, 66. All of the forgoing but Rutherford are attorneys.  Continue reading →

As is oft repeated in this blog and elsewhere, the ADA in combination with California discrimination statutes creates a perfect storm for those wanting to use legal process more than merit to force businesses into disproportionate monetary settlements.  Relief has been slow in coming because both the legislature and disability advocates tend to see the issue in broad generalized terms of less or more access rather than the devil in the details of how the law operates to benefit those who game the system for profit.  Nevertheless, Continue reading →