Benefits of CASp may be only effective as far as the stay goes if sued in State Court. There are additional items such as attorney’s fees which still provide benefit to clients of CASp.
California’s 2009 Construction-Related Accessibility Standards Compliance Act (“the Act”) was designed to curb abusive ADA litigation by creating the Certified Access Specialist program (CASp). CASp enables business owners to follow procedures to “certify” that their facilities meet state and federal accessibility standards. One benefit CASp offers is that business owners with certification have the option to stay or stop all construction-related ADA litigation initiated against them and instead proceed to mediation, making it possible to avoid expensive and lengthy proceedings that drive up legal fees. But a recent court decision suggests this may not be the case when sued in federal court, suggesting that CASp may not offer all the benefits intended by the California legislators.
Read the entire article here: http://articles.jmbm.com/2010/11/23/casp-may-not-provide-some-of-its-intended-protections-when-sued-in-federal-court-under-the-ada/
Nonetheless the take away is that CASp is still a superior product, although costlier. It provides some definition when it comes to reasonable attorneys fees, but its effectiveness may be limited to State Court only.
Interested in a CASp inspection? YTA offers ADA reports and CASp reports. Questions or comments? Call us for a quote. 866 982 3212 or email us at help@accesssolutionllc.com
291 Replies to “CASp May Not Provide Some of its Intended Protections when Sued in Federal Court Under the ADA”