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http://www.postbulletin.com/business/several-rochester-businesses-hit-with-disabilities-act-suits/article_47528c47-5133-535d-b13b-169652dd17d1.html
July 2, 2015 .
Jeff Kiger, jkiger@postbulletin.com
A Minneapolis attorney is leading a "crusade" to make Rochester businesses more handicapped accessible, while negotiating hefty payments to keep the cases out of court.
Paul Hansmeier has threatened to file suits against at least eight Rochester businesses in the last four to six weeks, according to attorney Greg Griffiths of Dunlap & Seeger. He described the majority of the complaints as focusing on the parking lot markings, signage and the business entryways.
Hansmeier did not respond to calls to his Class Justice LLC office in Minneapolis for comment.
Griffiths, who has a stack of these cases on his desk, said the local business owners he's spoken to all are eager to be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. However, fixing the issues does not satisfy Hansmeier or his clients, the nonprofit Disability Support Alliance, said Griffiths.
One of the Rochester businesses affected was Bilotti's Pizzeria. Owner Karla Sperry first was notified of a problem when an information letter threatening a civil lawsuit arrived two weeks ago. The suit pointed out her handicapped parking spaces at 821 Civic Center Drive did not have signs in addition to the lot markings. The complaint asked for $5,000 for damages.
Sperry said the signs had been in place previously, but had disappeared in recent months during renovations to the building. She is fixing the issue by placing the handicapped parking spots by the front door and affixing the signs to the building.
"I don't mind putting up signs. Many of my customers are disabled," she said.
However, she adds that none of her regular customers had complained about the lack of parking signs.
"These people (Disability Support Alliance) had no intention of supporting my business when they drove in here," Sperry said angrily. "They came in here with every intention of getting rich quick."
Through Dunlap & Seeger, she's currently negotiating with Hansmeier over the damages.
Mary Alexander, a co-owner of Rochester's Hillcrest Shopping Center, also has been threatened with an ADA lawsuit, and she called it "kind of a cheap shot."
Hillcrest is another target of the ADA suits. While the small shopping center had the required number of handicapped parking spaces and signs, it did not have the additional marked off area for loading and unloading wheelchairs required in the later version of the ADA.
"We fixed that right away. Everything is in compliance now," she said. "We're very respectful of the handicapped."
Like Bilotti's, Hillcrest is negotiating with Hansmeier for damages.
Hansmeier has filed a large number of these type of lawsuits throughout the state, including in Marshall and Mankato, according to news reports. Before pursuing ADA cases, he was well known for suits against Internet users charging they had illegally downloaded copyrighted pornography.
He has been quoted in the media saying, "We consider ourselves to be an advocacy association more than we consider ourselves a law firm. With the porn reputation, I wanted to shift my focus and focus on something more positive."
Zach Hillesheim, the wheelchair-bound general manager at Disability Support Alliance, has told other media that Hansmeier's tactics are necessary because of the way the law was written.
"The ADA pretty much begs that somebody does this," he was quoted in the Mankato Free Press as saying.
The 25-year-old ADA law is not as simple to follow as many think, according to Griffiths. Businesses in compliance with the original rules might be OK, even though they don't follow changes that were added in 2009. However, if the buildings or parking lot have been updated, businesses might need to follow the updated 2009 rules.
Dunlap & Seeger's Griffiths and Sarah Gibson wrote a statement about ADA and compliance that the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce sent out to its members last week.
"The ADA design standards are triggered when a business carries out an alteration of its facilities," they wrote in the statement. "Specific examples of an alteration include restriping a parking lot, moving walls, moving a fixed ATM to another location, installing a new sales counter or display shelves, changing a doorway entrance, replacing fixtures, flooring or carpeting. Normal maintenance, such as reroofing, painting or wallpapering, is not an alteration."
To avoid a lawsuit, Griffiths and Gibson recommend businesses review their buildings and parking lots.
Unlike the eight small cases, Hansmeier and Disability Support Alliance filed a much larger case against the Kahler Grand Hotel in March in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis saying that Hillesheim and a companion who also uses a wheelchair found a long list of violations during a stay at the hotel.
The Kahler Hotels have responded with a counter-claim asking for $50,000 in damages from the Disability Support Alliance. The countersuit says the original complaint "misuses and perverts the purpose of a civil action."
No one from the Kahler Hotels responded to requests for comment on the case. which still is pending
July 2, 2015 .
Jeff Kiger, jkiger@postbulletin.com
A Minneapolis attorney is leading a "crusade" to make Rochester businesses more handicapped accessible, while negotiating hefty payments to keep the cases out of court.
Paul Hansmeier has threatened to file suits against at least eight Rochester businesses in the last four to six weeks, according to attorney Greg Griffiths of Dunlap & Seeger. He described the majority of the complaints as focusing on the parking lot markings, signage and the business entryways.
Hansmeier did not respond to calls to his Class Justice LLC office in Minneapolis for comment.
Griffiths, who has a stack of these cases on his desk, said the local business owners he's spoken to all are eager to be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. However, fixing the issues does not satisfy Hansmeier or his clients, the nonprofit Disability Support Alliance, said Griffiths.
One of the Rochester businesses affected was Bilotti's Pizzeria. Owner Karla Sperry first was notified of a problem when an information letter threatening a civil lawsuit arrived two weeks ago. The suit pointed out her handicapped parking spaces at 821 Civic Center Drive did not have signs in addition to the lot markings. The complaint asked for $5,000 for damages.
Sperry said the signs had been in place previously, but had disappeared in recent months during renovations to the building. She is fixing the issue by placing the handicapped parking spots by the front door and affixing the signs to the building.
"I don't mind putting up signs. Many of my customers are disabled," she said.
However, she adds that none of her regular customers had complained about the lack of parking signs.
"These people (Disability Support Alliance) had no intention of supporting my business when they drove in here," Sperry said angrily. "They came in here with every intention of getting rich quick."
Through Dunlap & Seeger, she's currently negotiating with Hansmeier over the damages.
Mary Alexander, a co-owner of Rochester's Hillcrest Shopping Center, also has been threatened with an ADA lawsuit, and she called it "kind of a cheap shot."
Hillcrest is another target of the ADA suits. While the small shopping center had the required number of handicapped parking spaces and signs, it did not have the additional marked off area for loading and unloading wheelchairs required in the later version of the ADA.
"We fixed that right away. Everything is in compliance now," she said. "We're very respectful of the handicapped."
Like Bilotti's, Hillcrest is negotiating with Hansmeier for damages.
Hansmeier has filed a large number of these type of lawsuits throughout the state, including in Marshall and Mankato, according to news reports. Before pursuing ADA cases, he was well known for suits against Internet users charging they had illegally downloaded copyrighted pornography.
He has been quoted in the media saying, "We consider ourselves to be an advocacy association more than we consider ourselves a law firm. With the porn reputation, I wanted to shift my focus and focus on something more positive."
Zach Hillesheim, the wheelchair-bound general manager at Disability Support Alliance, has told other media that Hansmeier's tactics are necessary because of the way the law was written.
"The ADA pretty much begs that somebody does this," he was quoted in the Mankato Free Press as saying.
The 25-year-old ADA law is not as simple to follow as many think, according to Griffiths. Businesses in compliance with the original rules might be OK, even though they don't follow changes that were added in 2009. However, if the buildings or parking lot have been updated, businesses might need to follow the updated 2009 rules.
Dunlap & Seeger's Griffiths and Sarah Gibson wrote a statement about ADA and compliance that the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce sent out to its members last week.
"The ADA design standards are triggered when a business carries out an alteration of its facilities," they wrote in the statement. "Specific examples of an alteration include restriping a parking lot, moving walls, moving a fixed ATM to another location, installing a new sales counter or display shelves, changing a doorway entrance, replacing fixtures, flooring or carpeting. Normal maintenance, such as reroofing, painting or wallpapering, is not an alteration."
To avoid a lawsuit, Griffiths and Gibson recommend businesses review their buildings and parking lots.
Unlike the eight small cases, Hansmeier and Disability Support Alliance filed a much larger case against the Kahler Grand Hotel in March in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis saying that Hillesheim and a companion who also uses a wheelchair found a long list of violations during a stay at the hotel.
The Kahler Hotels have responded with a counter-claim asking for $50,000 in damages from the Disability Support Alliance. The countersuit says the original complaint "misuses and perverts the purpose of a civil action."
No one from the Kahler Hotels responded to requests for comment on the case. which still is pending
