Minneapolis bar owner appeals to Congress for relief from serial disability suits

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Minneapolis bar owner appeals to Congress for relief from serial disability suits

Businesses urge Congress to rein in serial lawsuits alleging violations of disabilities act.

By Jim Spencer Star Tribune OCTOBER 21, 2015 — 11:01PM

http://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-bar-owner-appeals-to-congress-for-relief-from-serial-disability-suits/335405521/

WASHINGTON — Amy Rowland spent Wednesday telling her story on Capitol Hill.

The owner of the Bulldog Northeast bar and grill in Minneapolis says she was the victim of a lawyer who charged her business with violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in hopes of a quick cash settlement.

After spending $15,000 in legal fees on a preliminary hearing and facing tens of thousands more for future court dates, Rowland settled her case for $8,000.

Now, she’s urging Congress to rein in a legal tactic that has been used on scores of Minnesota businesses and on thousands of businesses across the country. “You have no notice, no time to do remedies,” Rowland said as she sat in the office of Republican Rep. Ted Poe of Texas.

Poe has introduced a bill that would require businesses to be notified of specific ADA violations and be given up to six months to fix them before they can be sued.

Poe said the bill’s intent is twofold. First, it would “make sure violations of the ADA are solved,” he said. Second, it would prevent “frivolous lawsuits.”

Paul Hansmeier, a Minneapolis lawyer who has brought many ADA-related suits, including the one against Rowland, defended his legal actions and said they would continue.

Rowland also pleaded her case to the staffs of several members of Minnesota’s congressional delegation Wednesday. In particular, she asked for help in keeping business owners from being sued personally for discrimination as Minnesota disability law allows.

Serial disability litigation by a few lawyers representing a few clients has become the target of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and national trade groups representing the lodging, retail and entertainment industries.

“The bottom line is that access to the disabled is good business, but companies need an opportunity to address any ADA violations,” said Doug Loon, the president of the Minnesota Chamber.

Questions of intent play heavily in this debate. Plaintiffs can sue a business even if they’ve never entered it and live nowhere near it, Poe said.

“This is less about removing barriers than drive-by lawsuits,” added Bruce Patel, a Texas hotel owner who joined Rowland in Poe’s office. Some businesses are actually targeted by Google searches, Patel claimed.

Eric Wong, the disabled man who sued Rowland, was the plaintiff in at least 32 other cases filed by Hansmeier. Hansmeier’s first notice to Rowland came in what appears to be a form letter that provides no specific details of what she might be doing wrong. The letter says only that “your property has issues that prevent persons with disabilities from patronizing your tenant’s business on a full and equal basis.”

Rowland denies that her business was violating the ADA.

Hansmeier told the Star Tribune that his client couldn’t fit his wheelchair up to tables in the front room of the Bulldog. Making Wong use wheelchair-accessible tables in the backroom smacked of “Jim Crow” laws, Hansmeier said.

The attorney denied any wrongdoing on the part of his clients or himself in filing multiple suits for disability law violations ranging from table access to threshold heights on doorways to the slope of parking lots. He offered what he said was a quote from a California judge that “serial litigation is no more about plaintiffs than it is about businesses.”

Hansmeier added: “To the extent that businesses keep breaking the law, I’ll keep doing this.”

In fact, he filed three new suits this week against a Minneapolis restaurant, a liquor store in North Mankato and a restaurant and bar in Mankato. He has filed at least 110 such lawsuits in the past two years.

Hansmeier also said that making plaintiffs wait six months to sue was not fair to those being denied access.

Poe told reporters that he would consider shortening the “fix-it” period to 90 days. But he maintained that notification protocols and repair opportunities are necessary to discourage lawyers from filing suits that are more about fast cash than human rights.

 

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Maybe they should use the law firm of Dewey, Cheatum and Howe!

Minnesota, "Land of Ten Thousand Pay Lakes!"

 

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Poe told reporters that he would consider shortening the “fix-it” period to 90 days.

Depending on what the violation is you probably could not get 3 bids, drawings completed, and an approved permit from the local AHJ and a qualified contractor to do the work within 90 days.

 

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Eric Wong, the disabled man who sued Rowland, was the plaintiff in at least 32 other cases filed by Hansmeier.

Follow the money.

How much has Hansmeier paid Mr Wong? Is more than the law allows?

 

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Love it! Now the land of ice and snow gets a taste of what California and Florida have known about for years.

How much time do they think they are entitled to? 25 years is not enough?

 

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BILL WOULD MAKE IT HARDER FOR SHAMELESS LAWYERS TO SUE OVER DISABILITIES

http://www.citypages.com/news/bill-would-make-it-harder-for-shameless-lawyers-to-sue-over-disabilities-7772174

The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce is going for a bill next year that would make it harder for people with disabilities to claim damages from businesses that don’t have the proper accommodations.

At first glance, it sounds rather mean-spirited. However, the bill proposal is a response to the newest shameless lawyer fad to target mom-and-pop shops, capitalizing on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

In recent months, Minnesota businesses have been hit with upwards of 100 suits. Minneapolis lawyer Paul Hansmeier, who is currently being investigated by the state’s lawyers board for abusing the law, is behind most of the filings.

Business owners who have received the dreaded legal notice from Hansmeier say that his strategy is to file suit without giving them a chance to fix whatever may be noncompliant. The attorney presses on, they say, even after improvements are made. Some of them have gone out of business trying to fight the suit.

Amy Rowland, the owner of Bulldog, N.E., was in Washington, D.C. Wednesday morning to share her story of her $25,000 fight with Hansmeier. She'd heard about him even before the legal notice came in the mail, she says, because he'd been suing straight down her block.

Hansmeier claimed that Rowland put low tables only in the back room of the Bulldog, which qualified for discrimination. Rowland told him that she had them set up in the front as well, and that she'd already made sure her entire restaurant was ADA compliant. She told him she had representation, after which Hansmeier allegedly threatened that her legal fees would crack $100,000 if they were to go to court.

That was an ethical violation, Rowland's attorney told her. She filed a complaint against Hansmeier with the state lawyers' board, and then Hansmeier sued.

The case never actually made it to court. When Rowland's attorney fees hit $15,000, she settled with Hansmeier for $10,000. She couldn't afford to couldn't afford to stay in the game.

"Not only is he suing everybody frivolously for no reason, he's threatening me on the phone," Rowland explains why she didn't settle like many other businesses have up front. "He's just a horrible person. He doesn't care. It's all about making money for him, and somebody just needs to put a stop to his behavior."

Hansmeier insists that he only sues businesses if they fail to respond to his letter. He says they have ample time to upgrade their facilities, and that his priority is to champion disability rights.

"When we were being sued, I had called all my representatives and the Chamber," Rowland says. "There was really nothing anybody could do about it."

What the Minnesota Chamber wants to do is get legislation passed that would increase the window of opportunity for businesses making a good faith effort to address accessibility issues. Often, they don’t even know that they’re out of compliance because ADA requirements have changed so much since it originated 25 years ago, says Ben Gerber, the Chamber’s policy director.

Gerber wants the final language in the bill to protect small businesses, though not at the expense of Minnesotans with disabilities who have legitimate claim to damages.

As such, the Chamber is lobbying for businesses to get up to 90 days to make small fixes, like putting in a ramp, and a year for tackling larger projects such as pouring concrete or refurnishing an entire dining room. During those limited periods, businesses would be required to regularly log their progress, so anyone who tries to duck the ADA won’t be able to procrastinate indefinitely.

“We’re very clear that it’s very important to provide access for disabled Minnesotans, but we don’t believe that this law should be used like a ‘gotcha’ on businesses,” Gerber says. “If you refuse to make the change, then you should be subject to the full force of the law. We don’t have any compassion for businesses that are unwilling to comply with the law once they know.”

Abusing the ADA to make a quick buck is becoming something of a cottage industry, Gerber says. It’s always small businesses that get hit because they don’t have teams of corporate risk managers constantly keeping them apprised of new laws. Plus, small businesses generally aren’t making enough money to go to court over a nuisance suit. In many cases, it costs less to swallow one’s pride and settle.

On the federal level, Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) introduced a bill on Wednesday that aligns with the Chamber's proposed legislation.

Nationally, ADA lawsuits surged by 63 percent last year, according to Seyfarth Shaw, a Chicago-headquartered law firm specializing in labor and employment.

 

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DISABILITIES LAWYER PAUL HANSMEIER’S GOT THE LAW BY ITS BALLS

http://www.citypages.com/news/bill-would-make-it-harder-for-shameless-lawyers-to-sue-over-disabilities-7772174

This summer Minneapolis attorney Paul Hansmeier caught our eye when he sued a bunch of small businesses for not being up to date on their wheelchair ramps. Claiming to be a champion of disability rights, Hansmeier nevertheless raised eyebrows among longtime advocates when he seemed more interested in settling for cash than making sure that renovations were made.

How it worked: A disabled client of Hansmeier’s – and these were recurring guys – would first try to get service from some mom-and-pop shop. That client would find something wrong, such as the tables not being low enough, and Hansmeier would send the business a heads-up on an impending legal onslaught if they didn't make immediate changes. Restaurants, bars, bowling alleys, and art galleries throughout the Twin Cities, Marshall, Mankato, and Rochester have chosen to settle for cash rather than fight, often at the expense of having anything left over to improve disability access.

It was all perfectly legal.

Now WCCO reports that Hansmeier has filed for bankruptcy.

We know Hansmeier’s legendary career with Chicago's Prenda Law left him in hard straits. A copyright infringement firm that made millions by suing poor pervs for downloading online porn, Prenda would create production companies and accuse random dudes of piracy in hopes that a) they’d downloaded videos and b) have enough shame to settle quietly. A federal district court called Hansmeier and his partners porno trolls and imposed a fine of about $63,000. That’s been paid.

But then there were damages from individual lawsuits filed by folks who fell victim to the scheme. Hansmeier owes hundreds of thousands that he has yet to fork over. His bankruptcy filings indicate assets of $1.1 million, liabilities of more than $700,000. Under Hansmeier’s repayment plan, he’ll repay $142,570 over 53 months. A judge will review that repayment plan in bankruptcy court on October 15.

LAWYER PAUL HANSMEIER GOES ON A SUSPICIOUS SUING SPREE

Minneapolis attorney Paul Hansmeier represents “brave and determined individuals who are willing to stand up for their rights in the face of bigotry.” Or so he claims

Truth is, Hansmeier has only recently become a self-styled disability rights champion. Just two years ago, he was working for Prenda Law, which focused on porn copyright. Prenda's MO was to sue people for illegally downloading porn videos. Those who feared public shaming had an incentive to settle without much fuss.

But a federal district court thought Prenda's methods were a bit on the shady side. The court found that Prenda was creating bogus porn companies to use as plaintiffs, then threatening people with exaggerated claims to extort settlements. Prenda was fined $63,000.

Now Hansmeier has a new firm called Class Justice, which files American with Disabilities Act lawsuits against small businesses for not being up to date with disability accommodations.

The tactic this time around: send a notice threatening businesses with lawsuits if they don't voluntarily upgrade. If the business fails to do so, they get sued. Businesses could make Hansmeier go away by settling for cash. In some cases, the terms of settlement do involve having to fix the original ADA violations.

But he has been busy elsewhere. Hansmeier's got about 15 cases filed in state court and another 45 in federal court. Most are concentrated in Marshall, Mankato, and Rochester, but the number of claims in the Twin Cities metro is growing. Many name the same plaintiff, one Eric Wong, who's sued Urban Land Development, First Avenue Properties, Veronique Wantz Gallery, Uncommon Grounds coffee shop, the Bulldog pub in Northeast, Mango Thai in St. Paul, and others.

According to Michael Belean of the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce, some business owners made improvements after Hansmeier's initial letters, but got sued anyway. Others claim they never got so much as a warning. They just got served.

Margot Imdieke of the Minnesota State Council on Disability finds herself at a sticky crossroads when it comes to Hansmeier. Her focus is to increase access for Minnesotans with disabilities, but she can't support a lawyer whose primary motivation seems to be generating attorney's fees.

The ADA requires that businesses continuously upgrade their facilities if it's readily achievable to remove barriers to access, Imdieke says. “But what's happening here is these financially strapped small businesses write this check to this attorney, and the barriers still exist. Next year or the year after, the same thing could happen again, but now they don't have the money to remove the barriers because they've just spent it on the attorney.”

Imdieke says she's gotten a couple calls from clients of Hansmeier who are very upset with her for not backing him up. She tells them she is also a person with a disability, but she can't trust his motives.

“I think he sees an opportunity, and he is sweeping in to take advantage of that opportunity,” Imdieke says. “I don't think he has their best interest at heart, especially since the majority of the money being paid out to settle cases is going to the attorney and not for barrier removal. It just doesn't make any sense to me.”

Some businesses, like Chatterbox Enterprises, are fighting the long fight. Others have closed because they couldn't afford to fight or make the changes.

Belean says the Chamber is aware of Hansmeier's sweep.

“It was brought to our attention pretty recently, so we're trying to help businesses learn what their responsibilities are under federal and state disability laws so they can go ahead and make those improvements and prevent any lawsuits from happening,” he says. “But if they're making improvements and still getting sued, we encourage businesses to reach out to the Attorney General's Office, because that shouldn't happen.”