Disabled man sues gas station over alleged ADA violations

[jar546]

This one is easy for me.

I am in complete agreement with Brudgers on this one. There is profit in both directions and no incentive to comply other than the threat of a lawsuit for damages in addition to the cost of compliance which they should have paid for anyway.

Kind of like the contractor who never pulls permits and knows he won't get fined or have the permit fee doubled. His/her thinking is that if they get caught they will have to pay the permit fee that they were suppose to anyway. In the interim, they are gambling that they will have a higher profit on the job.

How many business owners fight accessibility requirements during the plan review stage anyway. Lots from my end.

 

[RJJ]

In PA if someone alters an ADA requirement you need to notify them as the BCO. It is that last little section of your last audit. If they don't respond for correction file a complaint with L&I and place a copy in the file.

 

[brudgers]

That doesn't make any sense, you are stating that businesses that don't comply obtain more profitable business than those that do? I think you must mean that businesses that do comply spend so much money complying that based upon the time value of money they make $10,000 a year less than those that don't comply. Increasing the costs for all for the benefit of a few has been turned aound into profiteering for a few.

Now to understand ADA enforcement, imagine analogous enforcement for building permits.

When something is constructed without a permit, the AHJ has the right to go to Federal Court.

When using the Federal Court, the AHJ may recover attorney's fees, but not impose fines or liens, nor may they recover their administrative costs (such as the BO's salary and the building inspector's fee).

In the interim, the building is allowed to be fully occupied and the developer, contractor, and owners can continue to operate during the litigation.

At the conclusion of the successful suit, the AHJ doesn't collect any permit or inspection fees [to keep the analogy parallel to ADA enforcement] and the building owner is allowed a reasonable period to comply while continuing to operate.