Carl Brahe
Being sued for ADA violations is a common problem for business owners. The Americans with Disabilities Act is meant to provide equal access to goods, services, and other amenities for all Americans. People with disabilities often face barriers to accessing goods, services, and other amenities that most people are unaware of. Businesses and government are required to remove as many barriers as possible to allow equal access to these things for people with disabilities as are available to people without disabilities. Almost any business or public amenity property can fail to foresee problems that may face people with disabilities and be sued as a result. Some barriers are almost impossible to predict no matter how carefully ADA access is planned since the ADA covers all disabilities.
A person with disabilities may ask for reasonable changes to be made to remove existing barriers. Most businesses will do what they can to remove the barriers but some remediations are just not possible due to physical characteristics of the property or extreme expense involved in making changes. A strip mall built on excess slopes may not be able to level parking spaces to ADA standards requiring replacing a parking lot with a multiple level parking garage to provide level spaces. A property built a hundred years ago may be unable to provide public restrooms or ample routes of travel, that accommodate a person in a wheelchair without altering the structure of the building placing an unreasonable expense on the owner/lessor or requiring alterations to an historic building prohibited by law. The ADA provides exception for such cases, but that does not prevent a person with disabilities from filing suit claiming discrimination.
Some complaints are legitimate and reasonable. Many ADA lawsuits are filed by unscrupulous attorneys for individuals who are only seeking a quick ten to twenty thousand dollars. Some of these people file hundreds of lawsuits that are often resolved with a payment to dismiss the lawsuit without any remediation being done.
In many cases there is evidence that the plaintiff never visited the property. These drive by lawsuits often unfairly damage business and may result in bankrupting them. One small restaurant built before the passage of the ADA in the small town I live in, was sued resulting in closure, destroying the dreams of the owner, and depriving the town of a much-loved eating establishment. The crux of the lawsuit was a few minor issues ignoring the most obvious and substantial barriers to entry and restroom use. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed when the attorney for the plaintiff was ordered to produce proof that his client had actually been in the establishment. The lawsuit continued for a couple years resulting in the owner’s bankruptcy before being dismissed. Many of the properties I have assisted in defending against ADA lawsuits have proven to be similar situations that have been resolved by payment of what I consider extorsion without any changes being made to the property.
On the other hand, I have had substantial experience with people with disabilities being faced with barriers that prevented them from enjoying a higher quality of life and the apathy of the people responsible for compliance with ADA law. Lawsuits filed in these cases would have been justified.
Colorado Inspection Services offers:
- Support for businesses that have been sued for ADA violations
- Support for businesses seeking to remove barriers to people with disabilities
- Support for defense attorneys representing businesses and governments that have been sued for ADA violations
- Surveys to confirm the existence or nonexistence of purported ADA violations
- Remediation planning to correct ADA violations
- Project management to correct ADA violations
- ADA surveys for new and existing businesses and local government owned properties
- Hotel/Motel
- Shopping centers
- Retail establishments
- Entertainment venues
- Government buildings
- Office buildings
- Public facilities
- Entertainment venues
- Sports and recreation facilities
- Public schools
- Public health facilities
- Other businesses and service providers
Restaurant owner sues attorneys who filed ‘drive-by’ ADA lawsuit against him