Category: ADA Lawsuit

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department and the Department of Transportation announced $55,000 in fines against Tornado Bus Company Inc., of Dallas, for violating passenger carrier accessibility requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In addition to the fine, a consent agreement reached with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the Justice Department requires the bus company to upgrade its fleet to meet ADA requirements by February 2011 or have its operating authority revoked.

An extensive investigation conducted by FMCSA uncovered that Tornado had only one accessible bus in a fleet of 53 buses, while ADA regulations require that at least 50 percent of a carrier’s vehicles must be accessible. The investigation also found the company had purchased new non-accessible buses, failed to train employees on interacting with disabled passengers and failed to establish a wheelchair lift maintenance program. The fine and citations came as a result of FMCSA’s ADA strike force held in May 2010.

“At the foundation of our society is the ability to live independently and move freely,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division. “This freedom is no less important to people with disabilities. We are grateful FMCSA takes accessibility requirements seriously and has reached this agreement.”

“Adhering to ADA accessibility requirements is not a choice, but a high standard that every commercial bus operator must follow,” said FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro. “FMCSA will continue to work closely with the Department of Justice to vigorously enforce ADA compliance so that all travelers can enjoy destinations across America by way of commercial bus.”

In February 2009, FMCSA and the Justice Department entered into a memorandum of understanding concerning the enforcement of commercial passenger buses. The memorandum between the two agencies was included in the Over-the-Road Bus Transportation Accessibility Act of 2007 and is designed to ensure consistent ADA enforcement nationwide.

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This is why architects and contractors are often at a loss.
Accessibility is NOT about Building Code.

Interesting story about Morse Merban and Thomas Mundy.

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Serial plaintiffs are targeting Southern California businesses, suing for alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Your tax dollars are paying for hundreds of these lawsuits.

No one disputes that the ADA is an important and valuable law. But some disabled plaintiffs have turned this type of litigation into a full-time, high-paying job.

Kathie Reece-McNeil owns the historic Aztec Hotel in Monrovia.

“Marilyn Monroe stayed here, Clark Gable,” said Reece-McNeil.

When the hotel was slapped with a fraudulent ADA lawsuit, Reece-McNeil fought back.

She could have settled the suit for $18,000. Instead she hired an attorney and won the case. But she paid a steep price in attorney fees.

“Ultimately it ended up being in excess of $100,000 dollars,” said Reece-McNeil.

“This is more profitable than narcotics, literally,” said attorney David Warren Peters.

Peters is with Lawyers Against Lawsuit Abuse.

“You can make $12,000 a day just eating three meals out,” said Peters.

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This could happen to you!  Read our ADA FAQ for more information.  For information about assessing your site yourself or hiring an ADA expert, please look at our ADA Consultation page.  Or call us at 866 982 3212 x2 or email us at help@accesssolutionllc.com

SAN DIEGO – The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced it has filed a disability discrimination lawsuit against Tarsadia Hotels, doing business as Comfort Suites, which operates several hotels throughout California.

The EEOC filed its suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California (EEOC v. Tarsadia Hotels dba Comfort Suites, Case No. 10-CV-1921-DMS-BGS), charging that the Comfort Suites Mission Valley hotel in San Diego failed to reasonably accommodate a front desk employee and effectively disciplined and discharged him due to his disability, in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA).

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This could happen to you!  Read our ADA FAQ for more information.  For information about assessing your site yourself or hiring an ADA expert, please look at our ADA Consultation page.  Or call us at 866 982 3212 x2 or email us at help@accesssolutionllc.com

You may think that there is no official body that enforces the ADA but there is, although the dragon often sleeps. The ADA isn’t enforced just by individuals in lawsuits, but also by the Department of Justice. Recently the DOJ has reached a settlement with QuikTrip…

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department today announced a comprehensive settlement under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with QuikTrip Corporation, a private company that owns and operates more than 550 gas stations, convenience stores, travel centers, and truck stops in the Midwest, South and Southwestern United States. Under the consent decree, which was filed today along with a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska, QuikTrip will create a $1.5 million compensatory damages fund for individuals who were victims of discrimination based on disability, as well as take various steps to make its stores accessible.

Read more on the details of the ADA Settlement

Chipotle’s experience lets its patrons see the food being prepared. Chipotle Mexican Grill was sued for its counters being too high. The final decision of the lawsuit is below in this article from the San Francisco Chronicle.

On the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, a federal appeals court said the law entitles wheelchair users at a restaurant to the same view as everyone else of the food that awaits them – in this case, burritos, tacos and the rest of the fare at Chipotle Mexican Grill.

The 45-inch-high wall between the customer line and the food preparation counter at two Chipotle restaurants in San Diego County, which blocked the view of patrons in wheelchairs, violated the 1990 federal law that requires equal treatment of the disabled, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said Monday.

(Read more on Chipotle’s Counters Block Disabled View of Food)

If getting an inspection could have helped warn the business. Regular inspections are a necessary part of running a business. About 20 years ago there were no house appraisals. Only a few people did them. Most did not want a house appraisal before they bought the house. Now it’s a regular part of the process of buying or refinancing a house. The same was true for various other inspections as well. Eventually ADA inspections will be part of that process.

There are thousands of these lawsuits. As the word passes more and more individuals might be tempted to test the waters with these suits. Having an ADA appraisal done of your site costs a fraction of a what a lawsuit would cost. A good example would be from one of our clients who informed us that after taxes he made only about 28k a year. The aftermath of the lawsuit cost him 15k — which included the cost of settling, paying for an architect and an attorney. An ADA appraisal would have cost him less than a thousand and prevented attracting a professional litigant.

Ralphs Grocery Store is embroiled in a class action suit across California. The suit entails that Ralphs presents architectural barriers which discriminate against individuals with disabilities. Interestingly enough many disabled rights advocates oppose the settlement because it does not ensure that the various architectural barriers will be removed.

Some useful links:

“Ralphs Faces Class Action Over Disabilites Discrimination
A California-wide class action lawsuit has been certified, pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act and California State discrimination laws, against Ralphs Groceries of California. The case is Sung Park, et al. v. Ralphs Grocery Company.”
Ralphs Class Action Lawsuit Over Discrimination

Settlement Information:
Settlement of Claims Against Ralphs Grocery Company for Disabled Access

 

UPDATE:

Apparently the main website: http://www.ralphscaliforniadisabledaccesssettlement.com/ is no longer online.  The organization CDR (Californians for Disability Rights) has posted a link to more information about this.  CDR opposes the settlement, so you can be sure there will be more information available from their website, including the names of the plaintiffs and the litigating attorneys.

Ralphs Settlement

 

 

Seven businesses in the Coachella Valley were hit by San Diego resident Roy Gash this spring. Gash is represented by the law firm Pinnock & Wakefield, one of the most litigious firms in all of California in regards to ADA litigation.

Gash’s claims against John’s Restaurant in Palm Desert included an improper disabled parking space, a paper towel dispenser in the men’s room more than 48 inches from the floor, a round instead of lever doorknob on the restroom entrance door and a front counter too high to access. Gash is seeking more than $25,000, attorney’s fees and correction of the alleged violations. Gash’s lawsuit complaint states that he “desires to return to the defendant’s places of business in the immediate future.”

In the article three things are revealed about Pinnock & Wakefield:

1. Almost 2,000 ADA lawsuits have been filed by this firm
2. “Ninety percent of all cases are settled early, because that’s what the court wants,” – Theodore Pinnock
3. The average ADA settlement demand ranges from $4,000 to $7,000. From our own experience, this is true.

Click the link below to read the full article:

Link: The Desert Sun (article, August 9th, 2009)

Don’t be a victim. Learn more about your ADA liabilities.

The following is from Popehat.com, which was linked to by Overlawyered.com:

The Squeeze Inn, known for huge mounds of melted cheese on its burgers, violates the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, [a] lawsuit alleges.

Kimberly Block, who says she has severly [sic] limited use of her legs, argues she suffered “embarrassment and humiliation” and that her civil rights were violated because of inadequate access inside the Fruitridge Road restaurant.

“In addition to its cheeseburgers, the Squeeze Inn of Sacramento California is also noted for its cramped spaces and limited seating.  Get it?  “Squeeze in.”  The restaurant is famous, having been featured on Food Network and in a number of other media.

The charm is evidently lost on Kimberly Block, who is suing the Squeeze Inn and its owner, Travis Hausauer, for alleged violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act, a well-intended law that has produced an unusually high litigation burden for small restaurants and businesses.  But one wonders whether Ms. Block visited the Squeeze Inn last November to order one of its famous cheeseburgers, or to just to get a settlement check, hold the onions.

Why?  Well according to a search on Justia, this isn’t the first time Ms. Block has suffered embarrassment and humiliation so severe she felt compelled to sue a restaurant.  It’s the third time this year. While Ms. Block hasn’t yet filed enough suits to place her in the company of famous serial ADA litigants like Thomas Mundy, her lawyer Jason Singleton, like Mundy’s lawyers at Morse Mehrban, has made an industry out of the act. No doubt Block will get there in time.

Of course if Block’s suit is litigated rather than settled or defaulted, there’s room for a defense attorney to move here.  According to its owner, Squeeze Inn had already altered its patio dining area to accommodate the disabled, making the outdoor area less “squeezy.”  Did Block ask for a patio seat?  Did she order to go?”

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Links: Popehat.com (Squeeze Inn Lawsuit Article), North Coast Journal (Jason Singleton Strikes Again, the same lawyer who shut down Arctic Circle), Sacramento Magazine (Squeeze Inn Restaurant Profile), Sacramento Bee, (Facing suit, Sacramento burger joint plans to move)

 

This could happen to you!  Read our ADA FAQ for more information.  For information assessing your site yourself or hiring an ADA expert, please look at our ADA Consultation page.  Or call us at 866 982 3212 x2 or email us at help@accesssolutionllc.com