"Professional Plaintiff" investigated by DA

Yolo County D.A. (California) Investigates "Professional Plaintiff"
Written for the web by C. Johnson, Internet News Producer


A man who admits making his living filing lawsuits is targeting businesses in Yolo County for their lack of disabled parking spaces. In the process he's come under scrutiny of the district attorney.

"We just got the lawsuit in the mail with a letter saying either we come up with $6,000 or we're going to sue you for $20,000," said Mary Ann Trongo, a Woodland Century 21 realtor. "Extortion, that's what they call it."

Trongo is one of a dozen business owners in Woodland and Davis to be sued by Mathew Lakota. Some, like Trongo, have since added disabled parking but are being sued anyway. Woodland equipment dealer Mike Grissom is among them. "We just feel we aren't bad people and we ought to have the right to correct a problem without going to court and being sued over it," Grissom explained.

Lakota has filed more than 100 similar suits in Butte County, where a judge ultimately declared him a "vexatious litigant." Lakota now needs prior judicial approval to file suit, which he obtained in Yolo County.

http://www.kxtv.com/storyfull2.aspx?storyid=14536

Check with your United States Congress member, and your Senators. They are the ones who created the vehicle by which this person is now suing you. It's called the Americans With Disabilities Act.

The president who was in the White House at the time, and who therefore must be the one who signed it into law, was George H.W. Bush. (And you thought he would protect people from lawsuits! Heh. Sure he did--but only people like, say, his friends...)

(And no, I'm not against the ADA. It has many good provisions.)