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Judge blasts serial ADA lawsuit filer
Comfort Inn settles case involving spa accessibility
http://hanfordsentinel.com/news/loc...cle_4f6d21ca-b745-5c56-b6d6-3dffc285d4cf.html
HANFORD — A local hotel has settled a lawsuit filed by an Arizona woman who alleged its spa was not handicapped accessible, despite the fact that the woman never visited the hotel.
Theresa Brooke, a resident of Pinal County, Arizona, filed the lawsuit with the U.S. Eastern District Court of California on Oct. 10. Brooke allegedly called the Comfort Inn Hanford to book a room for “personal and business affairs in the Central Valley.” She reportedly filed the lawsuit after learning the hotel’s spa does not have a handicapped lift.
According to court filings, Hanford Investors Inc., which owns the Comfort Inn Hanford, settled the lawsuit on Nov. 2. Comfort Inn Hanford owner Thebaji Odedra declined to comment on the details of the settlement.
“It is being taken care of,” Odedra said.
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 seeks to prevent discrimination and ensure equal opportunities for disabled people. According to the lawsuit, Brooke is confined to a wheelchair due to a missing leg.
ADA requires public facilities built or altered after March 15, 2012, to provide wheelchair access for swimming pools. Pools built before that date must be made accessible when it can be “readily” achieved.
The Comfort Inn was built in 2000 and opened in 2001. Odedra previously told The Sentinel the hotel’s swimming pool has a lift, and he believed the facility complied with ADA.
Brooke’s lawsuit sought a court order requiring the facility to make all its pool facilities ADA compliant, as well as attorney fees, legal costs and damages of at least $12,500.
Reached by email Wednesday, Brooke’s Phoenix-based attorney, Peter Strojnik, said the terms of the settlement are confidential. Strojnik declined to comment on the settlement and asked The Sentinel not to contact him further.
Federal court Judge Jennifer Thurston issued an order on Oct. 26 asking Brooke to show why the Comfort Inn lawsuit, along with 29 similar cases Brooke has filed with the Eastern District Court, should not be dismissed. The other cases involve hotels in cities including Fresno, Clovis, Visalia and Tulare.
Thurston criticized Brooke for claiming the hotels’ swimming pool facilities were not accessible, despite the fact that she did not personally visit them. In each of the 30 cases, Thurston said, Brooke contacted the hotels to book a room and asked if the hotel’s pool and spa had a pool lift or other means of access for a disabled person.
After learning that the hotels did not have lifts for their spas, Brooke reportedly followed up by sending an ADA expert to verify the information.
“Because plaintiff did not stay at — or even visit — the hotels,” Thurston wrote, “and did not personally encounter the alleged barriers, it appears [Brooke] lacks standing … to pursue her claims for violations of the ADA.”
Thurston’s Oct. 26 order gave Brooke two weeks to prove legal grounds for the lawsuits.
Brooke’s attorney requested an additional two weeks due to a medical issue involving his wife. Thurston granted the extension, but threatened to impose monetary sanctions against Brooke for “making false allegations.”
“However, in larger part, she claims she needs time to now visit each of the locations in order to establish [legal] standing,” Thurston wrote. “In doing so, impliedly, [Brooke] admits that the claims she made in her complaints … was untrue.”
Various media outlets have reported that Brooke filed hundreds of similar lawsuits against hotels in Arizona and California over the past two years.
Comfort Inn settles case involving spa accessibility
http://hanfordsentinel.com/news/loc...cle_4f6d21ca-b745-5c56-b6d6-3dffc285d4cf.html
HANFORD — A local hotel has settled a lawsuit filed by an Arizona woman who alleged its spa was not handicapped accessible, despite the fact that the woman never visited the hotel.
Theresa Brooke, a resident of Pinal County, Arizona, filed the lawsuit with the U.S. Eastern District Court of California on Oct. 10. Brooke allegedly called the Comfort Inn Hanford to book a room for “personal and business affairs in the Central Valley.” She reportedly filed the lawsuit after learning the hotel’s spa does not have a handicapped lift.
According to court filings, Hanford Investors Inc., which owns the Comfort Inn Hanford, settled the lawsuit on Nov. 2. Comfort Inn Hanford owner Thebaji Odedra declined to comment on the details of the settlement.
“It is being taken care of,” Odedra said.
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 seeks to prevent discrimination and ensure equal opportunities for disabled people. According to the lawsuit, Brooke is confined to a wheelchair due to a missing leg.
ADA requires public facilities built or altered after March 15, 2012, to provide wheelchair access for swimming pools. Pools built before that date must be made accessible when it can be “readily” achieved.
The Comfort Inn was built in 2000 and opened in 2001. Odedra previously told The Sentinel the hotel’s swimming pool has a lift, and he believed the facility complied with ADA.
Brooke’s lawsuit sought a court order requiring the facility to make all its pool facilities ADA compliant, as well as attorney fees, legal costs and damages of at least $12,500.
Reached by email Wednesday, Brooke’s Phoenix-based attorney, Peter Strojnik, said the terms of the settlement are confidential. Strojnik declined to comment on the settlement and asked The Sentinel not to contact him further.
Federal court Judge Jennifer Thurston issued an order on Oct. 26 asking Brooke to show why the Comfort Inn lawsuit, along with 29 similar cases Brooke has filed with the Eastern District Court, should not be dismissed. The other cases involve hotels in cities including Fresno, Clovis, Visalia and Tulare.
Thurston criticized Brooke for claiming the hotels’ swimming pool facilities were not accessible, despite the fact that she did not personally visit them. In each of the 30 cases, Thurston said, Brooke contacted the hotels to book a room and asked if the hotel’s pool and spa had a pool lift or other means of access for a disabled person.
After learning that the hotels did not have lifts for their spas, Brooke reportedly followed up by sending an ADA expert to verify the information.
“Because plaintiff did not stay at — or even visit — the hotels,” Thurston wrote, “and did not personally encounter the alleged barriers, it appears [Brooke] lacks standing … to pursue her claims for violations of the ADA.”
Thurston’s Oct. 26 order gave Brooke two weeks to prove legal grounds for the lawsuits.
Brooke’s attorney requested an additional two weeks due to a medical issue involving his wife. Thurston granted the extension, but threatened to impose monetary sanctions against Brooke for “making false allegations.”
“However, in larger part, she claims she needs time to now visit each of the locations in order to establish [legal] standing,” Thurston wrote. “In doing so, impliedly, [Brooke] admits that the claims she made in her complaints … was untrue.”
Various media outlets have reported that Brooke filed hundreds of similar lawsuits against hotels in Arizona and California over the past two years.
