Disabled-Access Lawsuits Plague Businesses (propaganda, Yahoo front page)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050317/ap_on_bi_ge/disability_lawsuits_3

By KEVIN O'HANLON, Associated Press Writer

LINCOLN, Neb. - Gary Walker was horrified when legal documents arrived at his small restaurant notifying him that he was being sued for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, the federal law that requires wheelchair ramps and other features for the disabled.


The feeling turned to anger when Walker found out the man suing him, Shiloh Hobleman, had filed a series of practically carbon-copy lawsuits against more than a dozen small businesses in the area.


"Hobleman is what can only be characterized as a `serial plaintiff,'" Walker's lawyer said in court papers. "Except for the named defendants, each of the ADA complaints is virtually, if not exactly, identical to the instant suit — right down to the typographical and grammatical errors."


Around the country, business owners, judges and politicians are complaining that employers are being hit with a spray of "drive-by" ADA lawsuits that they say are little more than shakedown attempts by lawyers hoping for a quick cash settlement.

<more>
----------------------------------------

This article is disgusting. It's on Yahoo's front page, too.

get rid of the disabled!

Get rid of your impediments to the disabled! You ARE required to by LAW, you know...

:headbang:
rockantion

so bafflingly difficult to understand for those who'd rather invest 10 times more energy and money in getting around the ADA than they'd have to if they'd just do the right thing.

http://tinyurl.com/5dgqv

Edit: fix link.

I forgot...I'll throw it in.

Uhhh...well if his business complied with the ADA, he wouldn't have a problem, would he?

It's because businesses are ignoring the requirements. If I were disabled, I'd file serial lawsuits to force compliance, too!

is a business my grandmother can't go to, even with my help.

phase of any small business. I was a director or business development for several years. Whenever we acquired a new space, if it was not in a business, or shopping center (who are required to build these accesses in the center), we couldn't even get a permit to build if handicap ramps, parking and accesses weren't in the blueprints. These people should be held accountable.

But more importantly, because these accesses are supposed to be in the blueprints, the city should be held accountable also for not inforcing the law. Even if the blueprints showed that the original plan contained the accesses, the inspector should have halted contruction once finding the blueprints not being followed. And EVERY phase of construction is inspected and either given a "go" or a "no go" for the next phase.

These slimey bastards would kick a cripple in the face after they fall down. The ADA has been law for fifteen years now, more than enough time to comply with it.
If these bastards ever had to get around in world not meant for disabled people they'd be singing a different tune.

This guy has had YEARS to get his business in compliance with the ADA. He's in violation of a Federal law - end of story.

I fail to see why it's being brought up again (oh right - tort reform.) If you are a small business owner, and after all the horror stories that have come out over the years since the ADA went into force you still haven't complied with ADA, then you are either willfully ignorant or willfully defying the law. There are a few exceptions to this, but none of the supposed "plague" victims in this article went out of business, became alcoholics, died, or shot someone. They're just cranky about having to pay for lawyers to clean up after their mess.

No besides, really, I just double posted. Actually, I was a part of the restaurant industry in the nineties, and I remember the grumblings from the owners I knew of little mom-n-pop joints, but they all managed to get the ramp out front, and the hand rails in the bathroom and what-not.

There's no flies on Shiloh Hobleman!

Gary Walker wouldn't have had to put himself through all of the "horror" if he just would have complied with Federal law.

in some cases, for small businesses especially, the costs would be prohibitive...

I am a small business owner who barely has a dime to shine at the end of any given month, and have not found anything in the ADA cost-prohibitive to our business.

is one that comes to mind.

nt

And we just agree to disagree (agreeably, of course!). I was paralyzed from the neck down for several months, and was incredibly frustrated by noncompliance with the ADA when it came to doorway size and entrance access (no ramps).

I've also had quite a bit of experience in home repair and renovation, and it is rarely very expensive to widen doorways or add entry ramps. I can see how adding an elevator would be a big ticket item, but that something that would not usually fall to a small business owner.

I acknowledge there are exceptions to every rule, and there are undoubtedly SOME small business owners that encounter some real difficulty in complying, but for every one of those, I think there are scores more that complain about the hardship without even knowing what ADA compliance would actually cost them.

and don't want a lot of special treatment- just equal...and reasonable. some of the stuff is just silly, and it's a shame that some businesses- usually small and family owned- can have to endure the aded expense when it really shouldn't be needed.

What makes this article propaganda. Just wondering why you think so.

I read it, seemed fair. It looked at both sides of the problem. Quoted both sides.

That's pure propaganda. Follow that up with the reality that there is nothing about why these people must comply until half way through the story, adding a story about a "poor small business owner and his anger," followed by overgeneralizations (made without study or proof) about a supposedly nation wide epidemic of "shakedown" suits, and what you've got is pure propaganda.

The reporter didn't do the proper homework to make the statements he wrote about this supposed epidemic without attribution to any source. That leaves this piece as incredibly biased propaganda. One side is propped up by claims made to seem like they are facts, when they are simply hyperbole.

bush sr. and a republican congress gave it their thumbs up. part of poppy's "kinder and gentler" crap.

kind of amazing, in retrospect. i couldn't even IMAGINE shrub doing anything like that. well, a law with that NAME, sure, but, at least, not a law with any teeth.

a city inspector putting a build or cease operation on them.

(Former) Senator Lowell Weicker has a son, Sonny Weicker who is Down's Syndrome. Lowell forced the ADA through congress.

if there is such a thing.

well, not anymore that's for sure....

I was stuck in a wheelchair for two months. You won't believe how many businesses do not have disabled access or make it very hard for a person with disabilities to get around, go to the restroom, get items, open doors, etc.

Had I been disabled on a permanent basis, I would have filed a suit in no time against all the businesses that did not comply with the ADA.

There is nothing like walking in another person's shoes to understand how difficult it is. And this was in NY, which is pedestrian friendly.

Side note: I wrote a scathing letter to the MTA (subways/buses) on how they are crappily treating their disabled customers by not advising properly which stations are accessible (with working elevators) and which are not. For instance, one day I had to go to a doctor's appointment. My husband "drove" my wheelchair. We called in advance to find out which subway station closest to the doctor was accessible. So, we stop there and the first elevator is not working. With a bit of a hassle, we manage to ride the escalator. When we get to the mezzanine level, the elevator is not working. However, there is no escalator to get you to street level. So, I did the stairs on my butt (remember, I couldn't walk; I had a rigid full leg cast) with gloves on. Two police officers were there to curse the MTA along with me and my husband.

right now. I'm lucky enough to have elevators and stuff in the places I need to go, but I had NO idea how important this stuff is until I was walking on a leg and two sticks.

and couldn't lift my right leg without severe pain while trying to access my college where there were some classes that weren't handicap accessible.

My inner ear on the left side was removed during brain surgery and I only have one inner ear and one balance nerve which makes stairs and slopes exceedingly difficult without assistance (rails, cane, etc). I can't believe how many restaurants' restrooms are in the basement at the foot of a very steep stairway. It's hard, sometimes I can't even negotiate them without a rail, my cane, and assistance from another person.

Armchair analysis is easy until you've been there. I was suddenly and unexpectedly paralyzed from the neck down a few years ago with a rare neurological syndrome and spent the better part of a year in a wheelchair. When I got out of the rehab hospital, it was really a trip to learn I couldn't get into my own home without being carried (three entrances, all with steps), or the bathroom (though the bedroom doors were large enough for my small wheelchair - barely.

I'm not a fan of lawsuits in general, but in this case, I'm cheering for the plaintiff all the way. I've been on both sides of this one, and the ADA is good for everyone in my book.

don't know what's wrong with me - second duplicate post today!

Private lawsuits are the ONLY means of enforcement built into ADA. It's not like, say, employment law where there's an EEOC that has enforcement powers. So, there's no incentive for this guy to spend a few hundred bucks on a ramp, until the dreaded "serial plantiff" comes along.

Meanwhile, Bush** keeps appointing (or trying to) these Federalist judges who oppose civil rights for anyone; we're just first on the chopping block because ADA is so new there's not a huge body of case law behind it. Plus, the repuke Congress gutted IDEA, amking it easier for public schools to discriminate against students with disabilities.

Then there's the draconiam Medicaid cuts that we just barely managed to stave off -- for now, anyway... :scared:

So why did about half of voters with disabilities vote for the evil dunce? You tell me.

for example, a wheelchair accesible bathroom needs to be at least 5 feet square on a side and the door has to swing out. Figure 28 You don't always have the space and then you have to redo plumbing, add the reinforcing for grab bars... the list is endless and daunting, and I have complete sympathy for a small business which doesn't have the money: http://www.access-board.gov/adaag/html/adaag.htm

As an architect I've been dealing with ADA since it went into effect in 1993. It's a great thing for civil rights but also a challenge.

Compliance can be daunting, especially for small businesses. It's a damn shame that small businesses are being sued; compliance can be achieved with the carrot, more than the stick.

However, there is an acrid aroma of propaganda here, of laying the foundation to repeal or restrict the ADA. Curtailing civil rights in the interest of business is the Republican way.

I'll be glad to detail my access challenges. ADA compliance isn't any more optional than my disability.

and these small businesses have the choice to comply or go out of business. I think the previous post above yours sugggests grants or other financial incentives to get it done.

Q. Are there any limitations on the ADA's barrier removal requirements for existing facilities?

A. Yes. Barrier removal need be accomplished only when it is "readily achievable" to do so.


Q. What does the term "readily achievable" mean?

A. It means "easily accomplishable and able to be carried out without much difficulty or expense."
<snip>

Q. How is "readily achievable" determined in a multisite business?

A. In determining whether an action to make a public accommodation accessible would be "readily achievable," the overall size of the parent corporation or entity is only one factor to be considered. The ADA also permits consideration of the financial resources of the particular facility or facilities involved and the administrative or fiscal relationship of the facility or facilities to the parent entity.

http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/q%26aeng02.htm

So, it would seem that the mom and pop diner on the corner that is about the size of my living room would maybe be exempt. However, should someone file a suit, it would cost a lot to get that ruling. Could this be the kind of thing that the "serial plaintiffs" are doing?