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Florida lawmakers pass law aimed at crippling ADA lawsuit abuse

mark handler

mark handler

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Florida lawmakers pass law aimed at crippling ADA lawsuit abuse
Businesses can hire "qualified expert"
http://www.wptv.com/news/local-news...kers-pass-law-aimed-at-crippling-ada-lawsuits
Florida lawmakers on both sides of the aisle this week agreed: it's time to stop ADA abuse in Florida. As result, a bill that would help Florida business owners fight unnecessary ADA lawsuits recently swept through both the House and Senate unanimously.
The legislation, which still needs to be signed by the Governor, is Florida's most recent attempt to stop what critics have described as a movement less about helping the disabled and more about cashing in on the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The bill gives business owners the ability to fight back lawsuits by allowing them to voluntarily hire a qualified ADA expert. That expert would create a remediation plan to fix any ADA violations within a reasonable period of time. In the event a business owner is sued for an ADA violation, the business owner could file the plan in court letting the judge know they are aware of the issues and are working on fixing the issues. As a result, the person bringing the claims would lose merit and the case would be thrown out.
When the bill was filed in February, Michael Marsh, owner of Shoreline Island Resort in St. Petersburg, described it as a step in the right direction. Marsh was sued a few years ago for not having a pool lift and not having proper ADA parking spaces among other things.
Marsh spoke with us back in November and expressed frustration over the lack of information he received from building code inspectors and city officials who approved renovations and additions to his St. Petersburg resort but never mentioned anything about ADA violations. In 2015, Marsh was sued by Howard Cohan, Florida's most prolific ADA plaintiff. Since 2012, Cohan has sued more than 1,200 Florida business owners over ADA violations. Cohan, who has never spoken publicly about his suits, claims he doesn't get paid and files lawsuits as an ADA advocate who is disabled himself.
For years, excessive ADA lawsuit filings have flooded court dockets around the state. The lawsuits all allege the same thing: the business is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. The lawsuit, which often looks the same other than the defendant's name and a list of violations, will describe how the business is violating the ADA Act. Violations range from a bathroom mirror that's too high to a disabled parking space that's non-existent.
But many business owners slapped with these lawsuits have cried foul, claiming they were served papers only to be served with an ultimatum from the plaintiff's attorney: pay to settle quickly or pay more to drag it out and possibly end up in court. The majority of ADA lawsuits filed in Florida settle out of court for undisclosed amounts of money because most settlements are confidential.
The bill was filed by (R) Representative Tom Leek of Daytona Beach. Leek is an attorney by trade and filed the bill after defending clients against ADA lawsuits he described as unnecessary and frivolous. Documents associated with the bill mention our series of investigations.
Watch more of our coverage on Florida ADA:
http://www.wptv.com/longform/is-your-website-ada-compliant
http://www.wptv.com/longform/florida-lawmaker-files-bill-to-curb-ada-lawsuit-abuse_
http://www.wptv.com/longform/ada-lawsuits-whos-driving-serial-suers
http://www.wptv.com/news/florida-in...olific-ada-plaintiff-did-not-sue-in-bad-faith
http://www.wptv.com/longform/florida-businesses-in-battle-witih-so-called-serial-suers
 
Sounds like the beginning of a CASp program to me without minimum qualifications for ADA experts.

Stay tuned for more developments
 
I agree that it is high time Florida do something about the PLETHORA of ADA lawsuits that go on over there. I like the idea of the bill. I like the concept.

However the bill isn't any good if it gets signed. Did you see who counts as a "qualified" expert? An engineer? A landscape architect? An interior designer? Give me a !%*#*$% break... You will wind up with civil engineers becoming ADA "experts" overnight. If the governor signs this, it will be a cluster you-know-what.
 
At this point the politically correct language movement has reached such extremes that the thought control has to be exposed and out of our laws, codes, and educational system.

Heat Street said:
Administrators at the University of Arizona are now accepting applications for “social justice advocates,” whose job it is to snitch on other students accused of bias. They’re also expected to hold educational programs about “the mosaic of diversity, multiculturalism and inclusivity” and maintain “social justice bulletin boards” in student residence halls.

typical-sjw.jpg

A typical social justice warrior
The job, which officially calls (archived link) for the advocates to “report any bias incidents or claims to appropriate Residence Life staff,” pays the student workers $10 an hour. They’re expected to work 15 hours a week, which means they could be making as much as $600 a month to police their fellow students.

Part of the job description reads:

“The position also aims to increase understanding of one’s own self through critical reflection of power and privilege, identity and intersectionality, systems of socialization, cultural competency and allyship as they pertain to the acknowledgement, understanding and acceptance of differences. Finally, this position intends to increase a student staff member’s ability to openly lead conversations, discuss differences and confront diversely insensitive behavior.”

university-of-arizona-campus.jpg

UofA Campus
The core responsibility, however, is to report bias claims. Bias incidents, which in recent years are increasingly being policed on college campuses, can range from outright acts of racism to far more subtle “microaggressions” such as referring to someone as a “guy” or wearing dreadlocks while white.

The social justice advocate’s job will also be, according to the job posting, to foster dialogue “related to diversity, multiculturalism and social justice”. Furthermore, the advocates will be tasked with “increasing awareness of diverse identities” and are expected to “promote inclusive communities.”

Lastly, these wildcats are expected to “be punctual in all position-related functions and tasks”.

The University of Arizona is a public school, and so these positions are funded with taxpayer dollars. At least until the state legislature reads about it.¹
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¹ https://heatst.com/culture-wars/u-o...to-police-fellow-students-for-bias-incidents/
 
The whole problem of ADA lawsuit abuse could easily be solved if local authorities were given powers to enforce the ADA. At the present time there is no mechanism in place in most states for ADA enforcement. If I tried to go to a place that is not in compliance with ADA requirements (I can find many of them here Louisville quite easily), there is nobody I can go to, to point out the violations and have them pursue actions against the business that is in violation. Unfortunately, here in Louisville, there are not even any local attorneys who were willing to file and pursue a lawsuit against such businesses! So that leaves me with no courses of action to pursue a business that doesn't comply with ADA requirements.
 
Msradell said:
The whole problem of ADA lawsuit abuse could easily be solved if local authorities were given powers to enforce the ADA. At the present time there is no mechanism in place in most states for ADA enforcement. If I tried to go to a place that is not in compliance with ADA requirements (I can find many of them here Louisville quite easily), there is nobody I can go to, to point out the violations and have them pursue actions against the business that is in violation. Unfortunately, here in Louisville, there are not even any local attorneys who were willing to file and pursue a lawsuit against such businesses! So that leaves me with no courses of action to pursue a business that doesn't comply with ADA requirements.
Click to expand...

There is nothing in the Law that says you need to be an attorney to file a lawsuit, you can file on behalf of yourself.
 
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