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SAWHORSE
Group files slew of suits to advocate for disabled
Six lawsuits filed by a Florida woman in Roanoke in the past two weeks are a drop in the bucket of 200 filed nationally.
By Laurence Hammack
981-3239
From the seat of her wheelchair, Denise Payne inspected six Roanoke-area shopping centers for accessibility to the disabled and found them all lacking.
Valley View Mall, Tanglewood Mall, Crossroads Mall, Town Square Shopping Center, Spartan Square Shopping Center and Lake Drive Plaza all discriminate against the disabled, Payne claimed in six lawsuits filed over the past two weeks in Roanoke's federal court. She also sued Radford University and hotels in Radford and Dublin.
The flurry of litigation is just the latest of nearly 200 cases brought across the country by Payne and two groups she is affiliated with, the National Alliance for Accessibility and Access for the Disabled.
Payne, a Florida resident who suffers from cerebral palsy, visited each of the malls, the lawsuits allege, and encountered many barriers: parking spaces for the disabled built on slopes; curb ramps with excessively steep grades; improper access to buildings; a lack of handrails; and restrooms that are unfriendly to shoppers in wheelchairs.
Those and other flaws violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, the lawsuits claim.
Payne and her lawyers could not be reached. But advocates for the disabled said the complaints sound familiar.
"It really doesn't surprise me," said Karen Michalski-Karney, executive director of Blue Ridge Independent Living Center, which assists people with disabilities and pushes for communitywide accessibility.
"It's been 21 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed," Michalski-Karney said, "and it is a civil rights act."
However, some critics say a loose coalition of law firms and advocacy groups have joined forces to bring a landslide of lawsuits that often cite minor violations of the law.
"It's a game of inches," said Brian Blair, an Orlando, Fla., attorney who has defended hundreds of the cases. When alleging that a slope is too steep, or a doorway too narrow, "it can be an inch, a half-inch or sixteenths of an inch," he said.
"It's not like they're saying, 'The courthouse had no steps and I had to drag myself up.' "
Luke Waldrop, the owner of Spartan Square, said he's not aware of any ADA violations at the Salem shopping center.
"You and I both know that if someone is in a wheelchair, we want to do whatever is reasonably possible to take care of them," Waldrop said.
Asked about the number of cases filed in Roanoke by Payne's group, Waldrop said it sounds to him like "somebody wants to make some money."
Other mall operators either declined to comment last week or could not be reached.
No monetary damages
More often than not, enforcement of the ADA falls to the people who are the most affected, said Colleen Miller, executive director of the Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy.
"There's not really any state or federal entity that goes out and ensures that these businesses and places are accessible to people with disabilities," Miller said.
Although the U.S. Justice Department's civil rights division can take action against noncomplying businesses and public places, in most cases, "they really rely on people with disabilities or their advocates to file a complaint," she said.
As for the criticism that those who file lawsuits are only seeking money, that's not always the case.
In U.S. District Court in Roanoke, where Payne and the National Alliance for Accessibility have filed their lawsuits, the complaints do not seek monetary damages for whatever hardships she might have endured.
Rather, the suits ask a judge to order the deficiencies be repaired, and to award attorneys fees and litigation expenses.
Payne, who attends the Southeast Unitarian Universalist Summer Institute held annually at Radford University, regularly visits the shopping malls she sued and hopes to return to them in the future, the lawsuits state.
Her lawsuit against the university, filed late Friday, is the most detailed of the nine she has brought so far in Roanoke's federal court.
It detailed problems she found in 14 buildings and offices, ranging from parking and access flaws to pay telephones mounted too high on a wall to be reached from a wheelchair.
The deficiencies Payne found at Radford and elsewhere amount to discrimination, safety hazards and deprivation of disabled people's access to public places, the lawsuits claim.
Team up with lawyers
The National Alliance for Accessibility is a nonprofit group formed under the laws of Florida, the lawsuits state. The group is not registered with the state's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which tracks nonprofits in Florida, according to agency spokesman Sterling Ivey.
"We will be sending an inquiry letter to this business/entity to determine if they should have a registration on file with us," Ivey wrote in an e-mail.
Blair, the Orlando attorney who often defends ADA lawsuits, said there are about a half-dozen advocacy groups for the disabled in Florida that often team up with selected law firms.
"I'm jaded, but I believe the basis for these cases is attorney fees and expert fees, not to improve accessibility," Blair said.
Records with the Florida Secretary of State show that the National Alliance for Accessibility is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale and that Payne is its president. Phone numbers for the group and for Payne were not available through public database searches.
Calls Thursday and Friday to two attorneys who filed the lawsuits, Eric Reecher of Bristol and John Fuller of North Miami, were not returned.
Most of the lawsuits filed by the National Alliance for Accessibility are still working their way through courts, according to records. A few have been settled, with the terms undisclosed.
Some of the allegations made by Payne lack detail and are "the very type of formulaic pleading that the Supreme Court has deemed insufficient," one attorney wrote in asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit against Saks Fifth Avenue in Miami.
In California and Florida, the law allows individuals to bring state lawsuits alleging ADA violations that can lead to monetary damages.
That does not appear to be the case in Virginia, said Darren McKinney, a spokesman for the American Tort Reform Association.
While the association has been critical of ADA lawsuits brought against small businesses with limited resources, most of the Virginia defendants are large public places such as malls.
"You'd have to be a pretty hardhearted soul not to agree generally with the spirit of the ADA," McKinney said, "and then by extension the motivations of even its most zealous advocates."
News researcher Belinda Harris contributed to this report
Six lawsuits filed by a Florida woman in Roanoke in the past two weeks are a drop in the bucket of 200 filed nationally.
By Laurence Hammack
981-3239
From the seat of her wheelchair, Denise Payne inspected six Roanoke-area shopping centers for accessibility to the disabled and found them all lacking.
Valley View Mall, Tanglewood Mall, Crossroads Mall, Town Square Shopping Center, Spartan Square Shopping Center and Lake Drive Plaza all discriminate against the disabled, Payne claimed in six lawsuits filed over the past two weeks in Roanoke's federal court. She also sued Radford University and hotels in Radford and Dublin.
The flurry of litigation is just the latest of nearly 200 cases brought across the country by Payne and two groups she is affiliated with, the National Alliance for Accessibility and Access for the Disabled.
Payne, a Florida resident who suffers from cerebral palsy, visited each of the malls, the lawsuits allege, and encountered many barriers: parking spaces for the disabled built on slopes; curb ramps with excessively steep grades; improper access to buildings; a lack of handrails; and restrooms that are unfriendly to shoppers in wheelchairs.
Those and other flaws violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, the lawsuits claim.
Payne and her lawyers could not be reached. But advocates for the disabled said the complaints sound familiar.
"It really doesn't surprise me," said Karen Michalski-Karney, executive director of Blue Ridge Independent Living Center, which assists people with disabilities and pushes for communitywide accessibility.
"It's been 21 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed," Michalski-Karney said, "and it is a civil rights act."
However, some critics say a loose coalition of law firms and advocacy groups have joined forces to bring a landslide of lawsuits that often cite minor violations of the law.
"It's a game of inches," said Brian Blair, an Orlando, Fla., attorney who has defended hundreds of the cases. When alleging that a slope is too steep, or a doorway too narrow, "it can be an inch, a half-inch or sixteenths of an inch," he said.
"It's not like they're saying, 'The courthouse had no steps and I had to drag myself up.' "
Luke Waldrop, the owner of Spartan Square, said he's not aware of any ADA violations at the Salem shopping center.
"You and I both know that if someone is in a wheelchair, we want to do whatever is reasonably possible to take care of them," Waldrop said.
Asked about the number of cases filed in Roanoke by Payne's group, Waldrop said it sounds to him like "somebody wants to make some money."
Other mall operators either declined to comment last week or could not be reached.
No monetary damages
More often than not, enforcement of the ADA falls to the people who are the most affected, said Colleen Miller, executive director of the Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy.
"There's not really any state or federal entity that goes out and ensures that these businesses and places are accessible to people with disabilities," Miller said.
Although the U.S. Justice Department's civil rights division can take action against noncomplying businesses and public places, in most cases, "they really rely on people with disabilities or their advocates to file a complaint," she said.
As for the criticism that those who file lawsuits are only seeking money, that's not always the case.
In U.S. District Court in Roanoke, where Payne and the National Alliance for Accessibility have filed their lawsuits, the complaints do not seek monetary damages for whatever hardships she might have endured.
Rather, the suits ask a judge to order the deficiencies be repaired, and to award attorneys fees and litigation expenses.
Payne, who attends the Southeast Unitarian Universalist Summer Institute held annually at Radford University, regularly visits the shopping malls she sued and hopes to return to them in the future, the lawsuits state.
Her lawsuit against the university, filed late Friday, is the most detailed of the nine she has brought so far in Roanoke's federal court.
It detailed problems she found in 14 buildings and offices, ranging from parking and access flaws to pay telephones mounted too high on a wall to be reached from a wheelchair.
The deficiencies Payne found at Radford and elsewhere amount to discrimination, safety hazards and deprivation of disabled people's access to public places, the lawsuits claim.
Team up with lawyers
The National Alliance for Accessibility is a nonprofit group formed under the laws of Florida, the lawsuits state. The group is not registered with the state's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which tracks nonprofits in Florida, according to agency spokesman Sterling Ivey.
"We will be sending an inquiry letter to this business/entity to determine if they should have a registration on file with us," Ivey wrote in an e-mail.
Blair, the Orlando attorney who often defends ADA lawsuits, said there are about a half-dozen advocacy groups for the disabled in Florida that often team up with selected law firms.
"I'm jaded, but I believe the basis for these cases is attorney fees and expert fees, not to improve accessibility," Blair said.
Records with the Florida Secretary of State show that the National Alliance for Accessibility is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale and that Payne is its president. Phone numbers for the group and for Payne were not available through public database searches.
Calls Thursday and Friday to two attorneys who filed the lawsuits, Eric Reecher of Bristol and John Fuller of North Miami, were not returned.
Most of the lawsuits filed by the National Alliance for Accessibility are still working their way through courts, according to records. A few have been settled, with the terms undisclosed.
Some of the allegations made by Payne lack detail and are "the very type of formulaic pleading that the Supreme Court has deemed insufficient," one attorney wrote in asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit against Saks Fifth Avenue in Miami.
In California and Florida, the law allows individuals to bring state lawsuits alleging ADA violations that can lead to monetary damages.
That does not appear to be the case in Virginia, said Darren McKinney, a spokesman for the American Tort Reform Association.
While the association has been critical of ADA lawsuits brought against small businesses with limited resources, most of the Virginia defendants are large public places such as malls.
"You'd have to be a pretty hardhearted soul not to agree generally with the spirit of the ADA," McKinney said, "and then by extension the motivations of even its most zealous advocates."
News researcher Belinda Harris contributed to this report