Lawmakers might end ADA lawsuit binge

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May 15, 2012 Updated: 5:13 p.m.

Lawmakers might end ADA lawsuit binge

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/business-354347-ada-dutton.html

By FRANK MICKADEITCOLUMNIST / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

The insane law that has allowed a small number of disabled individuals and their lawyers to shake down mom-and-pop businesses over Americans with Disability Act claims is getting attention in Sacramento.

You've read my recent columns on hits taken by Harry's Grill and El Don Liquor in Huntington Beach and the impact on those owners. Standard cost to settle is about $12,000 per lawsuit. Here's what's being done about it.

The rear of El Don Liquor in Huntington Beach. It has been sued because none of the four spaces was marked for handicap parking. The owner has simply banned public parking now, but that doesn't get her out of the lawsuit.

California law allows disabled persons to get $4,000 in damages (plus legal fees) every time they visit a business with an ADA problem. It is the only state that awards a plaintiff a set amount. In other states, courts will order a business to comply with the ADA, or they might award money damages for actual injury. California has 12 percent of the U.S. population but 40 percent of ADA lawsuits.

It seems fair that a business – at least a small business that is a first-time offender – should be given an opportunity to comply before being subject to a $4,000 hit. But there is nothing close to such a "safe harbor" statute here, and attempts to pass one have been shot down repeatedly by Democrats.

The latest casualty was a bill by Sen. Mimi Walters, SB1163, which would have given a property owner 120 days to fix a problem and not be hit with damages unless a disabled person was actually harmed. It died in committee last week.

A less-effective proposal by Sen. Bob Dutton, SB 1186, is still alive, in part because one of the state's prominent Democrats, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, has told the state Senate leader, Democrat Darrell Steinberg, she wants to see some reform in this area. He joined Dutton's bill.

"Because of Sen. Feinstein's enthusiasm, there is more enthusiasm on the other side of the aisle," says Larry Venus, a spokesman for the Republican Dutton.

SB 1186 would require a plaintiff's attorney to send the business owner notice of an alleged violation at least 30 days before filing a lawsuit. There's nothing in the bill that says that if the owner fixes the problem he still won't be sued, but it would allow the owner to hire an ADA consultant, make fixes and go before the judge with some evidence of good-faith compliance.

When business owners have been able to do that, the serial plaintiffs who file these ADA suits sometimes simply vanish because they don't want to have to make a court appearance, San Diego defense attorney David Warren Peters told me.

Dutton's bill passed the Senate Judiciary committee on a 4-1 vote last week, but it remains the subject of intense negotiation between advocates for the disabled and the business community. Everybody I've talked to said it bound to change in some fashion if it is to pass the Legislature.

Contact: 714-796-4994 or fmickadeit@ocregister.com

 

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Calif. lawmakers seek to end Americans with Disabilities Act 'nuisance' lawsuits

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A push is under way by state lawmakers to end so-called "nuisance" lawsuits involving the Americans with Disabilities Act.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/state&id=8654208

Eyewitness News has highlighted a number of local serial plaintiffs, who target small businesses over minor ADA infractions, often costing those businesses major money.

Alfredo Garcia is disabled and the illegal immigrant has filed more than 600 lawsuits against Southern California businesses for violating the American with Disabilities Act.

James Cohan, caught on tape hiking a steep hill, is clearly not disabled. He too has filed numerous ADA lawsuits.

Then there's Noni Gotti from San Diego, whose previous lawyer filed 243 ADA lawsuits without her knowing after her own case was settled.

In each instance, there was a lot of money to be made.

"It's not a way to make a living by going after the business owners," said lawsuit victim Noni Gotti.

State leaders are finally listening. They've approved a bipartisan bill that would stem the tide of ADA lawsuit abuses.

California has 40 percent of the nation's ADA lawsuits, but only 12 percent of the country's disabled population.

Among other things, the proposal would put a stop to threatening demand letters businesses get.

"It would ban demand for money letters that say, 'Pay me now, or pay me more later,' which unfortunately are sent by a few lawyers and law firms basically looking to make a quick buck," said state Senate President Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento).

The proposal also seeks to give businesses at least 30 days to fix the problem before a lawsuit can proceed.

But the disabled community showed up in force, hoping to sway the committee to reject the bill.

Members say access problems across California still exist.

"You don't have access. You don't not have accessible parking, do not have accessible bathrooms. All this is going on 30 years -- 30 years," said Connie Arnold, a disability activist. "I'm really upset."

Gotti is glad lawmakers took the first steps in curbing the abuse.

"It's unacceptable for this to be allowed," said Gotti. "It shouldn't have happened in the first place."

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) has now twice written to state leaders threatening to introduce federal legislation if they don't fix the problem.

(Copyright ©2012 KABC-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

 

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May 16, 2012 7:03 p.m.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/jones-354593-peters-ada.html

Disabled ex-cons filing many ADA suits

By FRANK MICKADEITCOLUMNIST / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

He became a paraplegic when he was shot while attempting a robbery. Now he's one of the serial plaintiffs engaged in a safer and, unfortunately, legal form of ripping off people.

I've written in recent weeks about small Orange County businesses being hit with lawsuits for alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

As we've learned, these are generally filed by a small group of lawyers on behalf of a small group of disabled plaintiffs who appear to roam California looking for violations, such as handicap parking spaces that are too small. Plaintiffs can get $4,000 per case. Often the businesses pay triple that to settle when they realize the $4,000 doesn't include all of the other costs involved in going to court. Twelve grand usually gets the parasites to detach and search for a new host.

One of the other things I'd heard but which had heretofore remained unreported in this space was that some of these serial plaintiffs are ex-cons who live in the Inland Empire but do their drive-bys in the O.C. Now, one of them has struck inland north Orange County.

Since Jan. 1, Dan Allen Jones, 52, has filed at least 20 lawsuits against mom-and-pop businesses in that subregion. A convenience store in Anaheim. A bar in Stanton. You get the idea. His latest victim was a flower shop in La Habra on Tuesday.

One of the business owners, Tue Nguyen of KAT Computer and the adjacent Co Donuts in Garden Grove, hired attorney David Warren Peters of San Diego to defend him. Turns out, Peters was quite familiar with Mr. Jones. From a deposition taken in a 2004 ADA lawsuit:

Peters: "What is the exact nature of your disability?"

Jones: "Paralyzed from the waist down."

Peters: "Do you mind my asking how that happened?"

Jones: "Gunshot wound to the back."

Peters: "Were you committing a crime at the time?"

Jones: "Yes, I was."

Peters: "What sort of crime?"

Jones: "Attempted robbery."

In between questions, Jones' attorney objected, saying the circumstances weren't relevant. But Jones ultimately answered.

Peters says the criminal backgrounds of the plaintiffs are relevant because it goes to their veracity as victim-witnesses. In their complaints, they are swearing that they went to the particular business because they intended to patronize it (that is, they weren't "testers") but were unable to – or unable to do so equally with the able-bodied populace – because the business was inaccessible to people with disabilities.

In the case involving the above deposition, Jones was allegedly on his way from San Diego County to Las Vegas when he decided to stop at a Mexican restaurant located about two miles off the freeway in San Bernardino. Jones was unable to provide receipts or any other proof that he went to Las Vegas or San Bernardino the day he said he was there.

Jones' attorney did not return a call for comment.

Eight years ago, at the time of the deposition, Peters' law firm, which specializes in Disabilities Act defense, identified four felons who had filed at least 1,150 lawsuits. That number is surely dwarfed now; one felon in Northern California alone has filed 2,000, Peters says.

The $4,000 bounty has resulted in a perverted code-enforcement system that appears unique to Disabilities Act issues. Other codes are enforced by city building or fire departments. But with this law you have private individuals, some of them former crooks who are disabled – including at least one guy who became disabled while being a crook – serving as the enforcement arm on behalf of all the disabled. And getting paid well for it.

"It has made it more profitable than narcotics," Peters says. "On any afternoon, me and a handful of (disabled) friends could go out and make $50,000."

Nonetheless, Peters urged me to "be compassionate" about how I used the information about Jones. "Regardless of my concerns with Mr. Jones' credibility, I would not want to trade places with him, and (I) recognize that there are a number of very good people with disabilities frustrated by non-compliance."

Tomorrow: Nguyen and the Garden Grove Chamber of Commerce are going proactive.

Mickadeit writes Mon.-Fri. Contact him at 714-796-4994 or fmickadeit@ocregister.com

 

[Msradell]

Maybe these papers should do investigative reports of businesses that don't meet ADA requirements! That way they would see how bad it really is and they would tip off the businesses so they could make repairs before being sued. Sounds like a win win to me.

 

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May 17, 2012 Updated: 3:59 p.m.

Merchants 'circle wagons' to fight disability suits

By FRANK MICKADEITCOLUMNIST / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Part II: Abusive A.D.A. Lawsuits. Yesterday: A disabled ex-con with a history of suing small business in Southern California has now targeted inland north Orange County with a series of $4,000 lawsuits.

Most small business owners hit with a lawsuit accusing them of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act have little choice but to roll over. They hire a consultant who tells them what they need to fix to come into compliance. They fix it. They retain a lawyer to fight the lawsuit itself, but often there's not much that can be done as long as business owner was served correctly.

Garden Grove computer store owner Tue Nguyen has decided not only to fight his the lawsuit filed against him for alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, but he's organizing local business owners who have been hit with a spate of ADA suits in the last three weeks.

The facts are what they are. Truth is, the business probably didn't have a handicap parking space wide enough for a van with a wheelchair ramp, or there was some other such barrier to equal access for the disabled. I'm not arguing that they shouldn't have to comply with the law. My issue is with the perverse and abusive enforcement process California relies upon. To stay out of court, the accused often pay more than the $4,000. As one attorney told me, $12,000 is the "sweet spot" – the amount it takes to make one of these serial plaintiffs and their lawyer go away.

In the case against KAT Computer in Garden Grove, disabled ex-con Dan Allen Jones alleges that within one year before filing the lawsuit on April 5, he "patronized defendant's premises on at least two different occasions with the intent to be a customer."

Jones, who lives near Hemet, was allegedly "prevented ... from the equal use and enjoyment of the premises" for 39 different reasons. They range from the parking space being too narrow to the lack of a telephone number on a sign.

KAT owner Tue Nguyen will fix the problems. But unlike most business owners, he's not going to stop there. When he was sued by Jones last month, he decided to try to unify the business community and marshal some political support.

Nguyen actually has a handicap space in front of the door to his computer shop. It's been there for more than a decade. I saw it on Tuesday when I visited his shop on Brookhurst.

"We have been here 26 years and have done everything for our disabled customers that we possibly can," he told me. He and another businessman who was sued, David Dang of Sugar's bar, ran through their plan to fight back.

First, Nguyen gathered up the names of the other area businesses hit by Jones and another serial plaintiff in recent months and started contacting them. Nguyen found lawsuits against businesses in La Habra, Stanton, Westminster and Anaheim as well. He found a gas station and a strip mall that recently made fixes, settled their lawsuits with one serial plaintiff, only to be hit anew by Jones.

"It's an epidemic," says Dang, who joined the cause.

They then went to the Garden Grove Chamber of Commerce and found a sympathetic ear in President Jeremy Harris.

The chamber is going to attack the abuse on a couple of fronts. Harris arranged a meeting among business owners and city management next week. The idea is to get their voices heard in Sacramento, where reform legislation is being negotiated behind closed doors.

Harris also is contacting chamber members to warn them that "there are predatory people out there."

"We are going to circle the wagons," Harris told me. "At a time when the economy is still struggling to get off its feet, this is the last thing our businesses need to be facing."

Getting into compliance is an obvious protective first step. But it's not enough. Even businesses in substantial compliance get hit because the federal and state rules regarding disabilities law are in conflict on some requirements. It is difficult if not impossible to be in total compliance with both.

Something as simple as a uniform checklist recognized statewide would be of great help to business owners. It's remarkable that no such document yet exists.

"(The businesses) freak out, lawyer up and settle, but that's not the route to take," says defense attorney David Warren Peters. "We need to resolve this situation from starting in the first place."

Garden Grove's involvement is a good start. But it's is just one city that's been hit by Jones and his cohorts of late. The power of other chambers and city councils is needed.

Mickadeit writes Mon-Fri. Contact him at 714-796-4994 or fmickadeit@ocregister.com