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ADA Lawyer faces his own ADA lawsuit

This is how widespread ADA compliance problems are:

Even an attorney who regularly files lawsuits regarding ADA violations at businesses has violations at his site.  Strange thing, he claims that this suit itself is frivolous but faces the very real fact that his visitors can only see him if they use the stairs.

The only real defense of an ADA lawsuit is to get the law on your side.

CASp inspections can help you with this as they do carry legal benefits.  More information on CASp?  Read SB 1186.

 

Original Articles about this attorney being sued?  See below:

 

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AB 223: Cure period Bill in CA legislation

There is a bill in the CA legislation, AB 223, that will introduce a cure period of 30-60 days for violations.

This does not get around the fact that issues that need to be fixed need to be fixed, even in the case of a lawsuit.  Anyone who understands the nature of disabled access violations understands that this bill will only impact items that are “Readily Achievable”, meaning items that are easy to fix.

For more complex items, such as parking striping or re-arranging  a restroom, costs can increase to the point of needing the approval of the local building authority.  Depending on where you are and how much traffic those departments get, 30-60 days may not be enough.

This means that as a stakeholder of property, you might as well fix these items immediately.

Better yet, why not get a CASp inspection?  This way you can have a timeframe on the order of YEARS to fix the items that need more attention.  AB 223 sounds like it offers relief to the layman, but 30-60 days is not enough.

This doesn’t even take into account that CASp will protect a site from future lawsuits FOREVER.  To read more about CASp go here: SB 1186 or contact us (866 982 3212 or help@accesssolutionllc.com)

 

To read the original article on AB 223 go here: http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2013/02/ada-lawsuits-and-the-public-sector/

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DOJ to change menus to become ADA compliant on College Campus

* Continually provide ready-made hot and cold gluten- and allergen-free food options in its dining hall food lines;

* Develop individualized meal plans for students with food allergies, and allow those students to pre-order allergen free meals, that can be made available at the university’s dining halls in Cambridge and Boston;

* Provide a dedicated space in its main dining hall to store and prepare gluten-free and allergen-free foods and to avoid cross-contamination;

Read more here:

From: http://pjmedia.com/jchristianadams/2013/01/02/holder-justice-department-ensures-hot-gluten-free-food-on-campus/

Feds rewrite college cafeteria menus under ADA

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Woman suing Taco Bell for ADA issues

We have heard a wide variety of opinions from attorneys on what is a reasonable accommodation. I think it safe to say though, that aa drive through is not an accessible route for someone who cannot get service in any other way.

http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=1760625&title=Woman%20suing%20Taco%20Bell%20for%20ADA%20issues

Not all issues are this glaring though. Many of them can be much subtler, needing an experienced inspector who knows what to look for.

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Not always worth it to settle

Happy new years!

To open the new years, we have some good news for property owners seeking to defend against frivolous ADA lawsuits. The trick in defending such cases is to prove that the alleged violations are in fact frivolous… or in this case, not readily achievable.

Here are two articles about this very issue:

http://legalnewsline.com/news/238477-calif-sc-awards-store-owner-attorney-fees-in-disabilities-lawsuit

http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/prevailing-property-owners-may-recover-a-81441/

Part of the reason to get a good attorney is that such an attorney will be able to present the case in this light. But unless the attorney can do the inspection themself, and unless the attorney is well versed in ADA and State building codes, you will need an expert witness to inspect the property and present the case.

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State of Access Lawsuits in California, and Nationally for 2013

Despite the passage of SB1186, in an attempt to cure lawsuits, California is ending another year as a hotbed of litigation. This includes the increasing number of lawsuits for SB1186. While many of my professional contacts (architects, attorneys, mostly) have hoped that the passage of SB1186 would decrease the number of lawsuits by making it difficult for attorneys to send out demand letters — this has proved to be the opposite. The lowered amount for damages seems to have only provided more incentive for serial litigants to sue on an even broader basis, to retain the level of income they are accustomed to.

Nonetheless, the fact remains, the only real avoidance of a lawsuit is to be compliant. A tape measure does not lie. It does not vote for Democrats or Republicans. Should someone sue you for not having proper access, having proper access will go a long way to saying “Hello, I have proper access. You are wrong to bring me to suit.” In fact, having compliant access is the only sure fire way to win. Legislation like SB1186 is just a band-aid on a festering issue.

Keep in mind though, SB1186 is, after all, only California law. The issue of ADA lawsuits is proving more widespread than just California.

Some national professional groups have begun to notice that going to courts isn’t worth the hassle. Insurance could help, as a band-aid, but if you are sued too many times for being non-compliant, they will drop you. Compliant access is the only real long term solution. This property management magazine speaks very broadly on the issue… probably because state laws differ on this issue, especially for condominium spaces…. so national groups must rely on local expertise.

As issues of compliance become more noticed by professional property managers, so too are they more noticed by potential plaintiffs. Here’s an article about a possible serial litigant in Missouri.

If anything, signs point to ADA compliance and lawsuits mushrooming even further in 2013. Any thoughts on this?

This will be the last article I post this year. I hope you all have a very happy, access compliant holiday, whatever state you are in.

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ADA Links

News and awareness of these ADA lawsuit situations has been developing a long time.

Here are some of the many links on ADA lawsuit news.

San Francisco tries to stop ADA lawsuits by offering city paid inspections.

Second article about the program in SF to help businesses Here.

The Department of Justice did a survey of Jacksonville, FL and found many different violations. The City of Jacksonville, FL is being asked to fix these violations. At least they have a choice to fix it, rather than having a lawsuit bring them to court.

The city of Baltimore upgrades their curb cuts but lacks the money to complete a path of travel. Curb cuts by themselves leaves the disabled stranded.

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Disneyland’s Response to the Small World ADA Lawsuit

Martinez’ widely publicized lawsuit alleges he and his wife were stranded for 40 minutes on Small World just inside the last tunnel when the attraction malfunctioned. He claims that other, non-disabled guests were removed but that he and his wife (“Buchanan”) were not provided “constructive assistance from any emergency or medical professionals, or Disney employees.” While a female cast member approached their boat, Martinez claims he “felt his blood pressure rising, explained to the female employee that he was having a panic attack, requested medical attention, and insisted that he needed to exit the ride immediately” but without success. Martinez claims that despite telling another employee that he needed medical attention, he remained on Small World, “experiencing Dysreflexia” for another 20 to 25 minutes. Martinez claims he repeatedly requested emergency medical attention but Disney did not contact paramedics until after he exited Small World.

You can read the rest here

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Colorado Starts seeing more Driveby Litigation

The basic understanding for how to avoid lawsuits remains the same no matter what state you are in or what the laws are for ADA compliance.

Figure out where you are out of compliance and make a plan to fix it immediately. There are no short cuts, or any other sure ways to avoiding ADA lawsuits.

Colorado has recently joined larger states like New York, Florida and California in suffering a wave of “Drive-by Litigation.” Recently a single disabled plaintiff and Florida attorneys have filed many nearly identical lawsuits designed to extort settlements from Denver Metro Area businesses for failure to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Channel 7 News reports that these same two attorneys have filed hundreds of similar lawsuits in other states.

How can you avoid your business becoming the target of a drive-by ADA lawsuit? You can start by auditing your business for ADA compliance.

Original article here: Original Article