These lawyers really only want a quick payout without going to court. That is why it is extortion. They threaten a lawsuit, but as this guy pointed out, their offer was for him to pay what they demanded and they would just go away.
@@boofert.washington2499 Ease up, keyboard Rambo. If there is a violation, it could be an honest mistake or an oversight. How about giving the business owner a chance to correct without litigation? No, because all they are interested in is cash. Even if there is a handicap person involved, the lawyer will get more than the 'victim '
I’m a partially blind architect with 20 years of experience designing ADA compliant facilities. I could’ve made a lot of money suing people. But only a scumbag would do that.
Saw brief documentary of an architect who became blind and greatly enhanced his design skills in ways that helped both blind & seeing clients (occupants) navigate large spaces and buildings. Sorry can’t recall details… perhaps on PBS?
Did you consider that you had a long career in ADA compliance because of the scumbag attorneys who provide an incentive for businesses to seek out your preemptive services?
@@thebookwasbetter3650 Consider wearing blindfold & trying to navigate public spaces/buildings, or if you prefer, I’m sure someone you know would oblige and render you blind so you can better understand.
The employees of his business put out of work by the lawsuit have a legal claim as well. All hands on deck; sue those bad actors! Good luck to the business, its owner, and all the employees.
@@awack_ lmao, do you know how this works? Anything about lawyers? No, and no. The guy's law firm files false law suits for a living and does so on a contingent fee basis (= 0 fee unless settled). Law firm's secretary ($26/hour) spits the same complaint out of her computer that's been used 200 times before, changes date and name of party to sue (total 1.5 minutes). Shortly after, law firm and complainant agree to a settlement with defendant of $15,000. Law firm takes 35 percent cut, collects $5,250 for secretary's 1.5 minutes of "work," complainant pockets a tidy $9,750. Nobody ever intend for this to go to a civil trial in an actual court of law. Both complainant and his lawyers are frauds. Complainant should be locked up for felony fraud and attorneys disbarred for life. That's how this, and lawyers, work. (btw, it's spelled "cheap")
@@rla1000 Took prior comment as targeted business can only sue shyster misusing ADA law for damages if wealthy. Still not always true as, especially here (many ‘injured’ parties) a law firm may take case on 100% contingency.
@@awack_ a Class Action on contingency or pro bono basis are both available avenues, though you’re basic premise is correct: US citizens get precisely as much Justice as they can afford. 🤷♂️😢
I’ve been paraplegic since before the ADA became a law (1993). At the time the law was pass this was the primary concern of those who opposed the law - frivolous lawsuits. At the time these objections were dismissed because these lawsuits would be dismissed in court. It took 28 years but the attorneys finally worked out a way to profit from the law, settlements prior to the case getting to the courts. That’s what people learn in law school, how to abuse the legal system for profit.
Have you gotten better access in the meantime? I have. Why would you bite the hand of those who fought for our rights? Do you want to see narrow aisles and stairs again? Do you enjoy not being able to reach the paper towel dispenser? Is the thrill of wondering whether they will have a table that can accommodate you worth it? It is NOT for most others. I see it a lot among the wounded veterans I know, not being able to patronize businesses they once enjoyed because it's so restricted. "Thank you for your service" means nothing when you can't join the crowd and have to eat in your vehicle.
@@mbryson2899 nice lie and bull crap. Ever hear of the us constitution. No expostfacto laws The hole ADA has trash the us constitution. Hint all new house if they have hallways must be 42" wide. My house 🏡 built in 1996 has 36" wide hallways. I bet when I sell my house 🏠 I will get hit with ADA law suits
@@dknowles60, what lie? And yes, I have heard of the Constitution. Do you know that ADA is part of Constitutionally upheld law? Too bad about your house. Maybe you should have bought in Russia where they just don't care.
They tried to sue over 1,000 businesses in Arizona.....Judge through them out of court. Lawyer said, he wouldn't talk to local Phoenix News team, because they weren't real news station, lmao. Some judge needs to put them totally out of business, they are extortionists plain and simple.
Hiking on a trail in Maine, I came across a privy (backcountry bathroom) that had a massive 40' wheelchair ramp. In the middle of nowhere, in the mountains, at least 50 miles from the nearest road. A trail maintainer told me that because it was on federal land, they were required to make the bathroom ADA accessible which more than doubled the cost of construction. Even though nobody in a wheelchair could get there without a helicopter.
@@mattkennedy6115 True. I also wouldn't put it past one of these ADA lawyers to haul a wheelchair 50 miles through the mountains to get a picture of their 'client' unable to use the privy
They did produce the person, they lost this lawsuit, and the ADA violation had nothing to do with him losing his business. But of course the media can't do their damn job and tell the entire story
Only if they can overturn federal legislation. The Americans with Disabilities Act isn't some Denver law on the books for a century nobody follows anymore, it's federal law. Maybe these businesses should be compliant with federal law.
@@notchomomma239 The issue with the last line in your statement, is that something being off by 1/8 of an inch can make then non-compliant. They can even enhance access, but be non-compliant.
@@nunya3163and John Crawford, here is the fly in the ointment. It’s against federal law to smoke weed in Colorado. Do you see what the gov and ag are doing about it? Too much money involved for these grifters. Please don’t bring up fed law vs state law again.
@@dknowles60 Uh . . . you do know many of the _founding fathers_ were actually attorneys/lawyers, right? 35 of the men considered _founding fathers_ were lawyers.
Yes, but think of all the good the lawyers do for society. It is all those endless "call my law firm if you were injured" ads that keep daytime television on the air. No more soap operas and game shows.
@@c.davidgraves4848 I'm half convinced that the first message we ever receive from am an interstellar alien race will be... "Have you been involved in an accident that wasn't your fault?"
As someone who is actually disabled, access is something I look for and I will ask it to be addressed 99% of the time, all it takes is pointing out that something might be a problem for people with disabilities. These lawyers are actually making access harder, because these lawsuits piss people off, and the ones who are effected by that rage are people with disabilities.
What about addressing businesses that don't comply with ADA requirements? Should they be let off the hook for ignoring the needs of people with disabilities?
@@madjimms I mean even the original poster does say 99% of the time. For that 1% of people who don't want to follow the law there are consequences. Much like many laws we have on the books, when correctly applied and in good faith they are great. But when put into the hands of bad actors like these hopefully soon to be former attorneys, they make a mockery of the legal system and endanger the very purpose of a law. these frivolous legal actions make people less likely to want to comply with demands for access as they have to fear for legal action regardless of their good faith efforts. Lawyers and officers should be held to a considerably higher standard than the general population due to these public perception issues that abuse cause. They are granted a higher level of privilege in the operation of their jobs and need to understand said privilege is part of a responsibility to the public to operate in a good faith manor with it else the rule of law itself would suffer.
@@madjimms does the man in this video seem like the 1% of people who don’t? Do you assume that by not wanting to punish people who will OP doesn’t want those who won’t to be? Are you bringing this whataboutery up for no reason?
Yes as it turned out this guy did not lose his restaurant because of an ADA lawsuit that cost him less than $1000. Media of course does not report the entire story and it's funny because this guy also suit his business partner as the reason why the business was going under
I had this happen to me in San Diego, CA about 10 years ago. I owned a yoga studio and was in complete compliance with local ordinances. The scammers even tried to serve me papers. I ignored them and they stopped bothering me, but some other local businesses lmweren't so lucky. These "lawyers" think they can intimidate people into paying out on false claims. The worst of it is they usually pick on small business's run by people who can't afford to fight back. I've heard of some business even being shut down permanently over this. This scam has been gong on for decades, there really should be laws against it.
Iam so glad I too have a small restaurant in California I’m just about ready to shut it down I have been sued three times in less than an year all frivolous claims fighting is triple the price of settling so people continue to get extorted . The whole block has gotten sued .How can this be legal?
You need to fight back and make a huge example of one of the entities suing you. Think asymmetric warfare. Show up at the lawyer's house. Start talking to his neighbors. Hire a private investigator to find wrongdoing. No one will sue you if they are frightened to death of you.
@@justinmanley8131 I watched a video where small businesses were getting sued so much over little petty junk,by the same law firm to,that even the advocates for the disabled were getting upset over the frivolous lawsuits. They said whoever was behind it was actually HURTING the disabled community by setting the disabled and the bussiness community against each other when it was better for both to be on friendly terms.
@@tritchie6272 The reality is, these suits have nothing to do with business or the disabled. Both businesses and the disabled are simply victims of a form of attempted theft cloaked as a lawsuit. Its a form of unethical behavior that needs to be punished. The victims should not be happy to just end the lawsuit, they should take it personally and destroy the perpetrators in a legal fashion. It only takes a few lawyers losing their careers to stifle these types of actions.
@@arlosmith9504 America isn't perfect but my god is it a step up from most everywhere else. It was created with the knowledge that politicians are corrupt idiots. That is one of the reasons why the constitution is based on negative rights.
@@vagabondwastrel2361 Yes, tens of thousands of deaths by firearms each year, a hundred thousand deaths by drug overdose, the obesity crisis, random shootings of black people by aggressive police officers, a gigantic proportion of the population in prison, increasing economic inequality, the broken legal system, a healthcare system where getting ill means financial ruin for many people, out of control corporations that think of nothing other than accumulating wealth regardless of the social costs, per capita emissions of greenhouse gases twice as high as any other country in the world, the hollowed out wastelands there were once industrial cities, an electoral system where super-rich puppets buy their way into office... America is definitely way better than any other country, a real role model we can all look up to.
@@arlosmith9504 The greenhouse gases point is wrong. Inequality isn't a bad thing as long as you have equal opportunity. The electoral system was created to prevent politics from the cities from destroying the country as they observed in other countries. The healthcare system is in a horrible medium place between a socialist system and a free market system. Obama's destruction of the healthcare system killed state programs such as badger medical that gave low income households a functional insurance for 1$ a month. Even with the problems of the American healthcare system we develop the bulk of medical innovation. The part you are missing is you have to compare it to other countries. Drugs and obesity are life choices. There are already proven methods to destroy crime but civil rights leaders called them racist so they stopped. Most crime is located on like 1% of the streets. All they have to do is flood that area with cops for a year and the criminal elements get removed and that area improves without the crime coming back. It simply forms in new areas so you move the main force of officers. They tested this in Minneapolis. It reduced crime by like 50% in the first few months. The study also was expanded world wide and found out the same percentage of streets being the problem is consistent. Then you have the broken window theory that helped save New York. Freedom always over safety. Because safety can be removed at any time.
Who ever wrote the comment below are you aware that some of these people file more than 147 claims in one year and that they do not eaven show up to the establishments they sue it’s nothing less than robbery!
They hire someone to do an audit. They can go in discreetly to do measurements and take pics. Like mystery shopping so might cost them $15 to get that info.
The comment above this one is from 8 hours ago. The comment below this one is from 4 days ago. I really think you should have used the REPLY link 2 years ago because I don't know what comment you are referring to.
Trying to follow the various ‘codes’ is nearly impossible. Code evolves over the years to correct ‘problems’. But there’s also contrary requirements. My insurance company demanded that the main door to my business, must only be unlockable by using a key, both outside and inside, for extra security. But this was in direct violation of fire code, which insists that from the inside the door must be unlockable without a key. But when I purchased the building, it was all to code with no ‘latches’ to easily unlock the doors. Or insisting that my smoke detectors be independent of the building (run by their own battery power source). 3 years later they had to be hard wired into the building (because people don’t maintain the batteries). Then within 2 years, the hard wired units weren’t saving anything (most fires are electrical and once the electric shorts the detector has no power). So I had to install hardwired WITH battery backup. Another example was when the smoking ban started. Bars had to put in expensive air filtration systems. Some of those bars had only had the systems installed and running for about 6 weeks when the code changed banning all smoking inside businesses. So a $10K-$20K system (plus installation and modifications to the building) became obsolete. Right after they became ‘used equipment’, so the business couldn’t recoup any of the expenses. So restaurants and bars had to build outdoor smoking areas. And that changed within 6 months too. *it honestly appeared to be a money grab. An easy way to sell useless permits and impose fines.
The same thing happened when I bought a business in Vancouver, BC. First to call were the cops who told me to change the locks so they could only be opened with a key from the inside. And a few weeks later the Fire Dept showed up and told me I had to change the locks because they were a fire violation. So I changed them back.
Of course hard wired with battery backup. Nothing else makes sense in that if it is available it should be installed. Keep in mind that the back up battery runs both detection and signalisation in case of a main failure. It's unfortunate for you but saving lives is more important than what you are complaining about.
7 years ago my family’s store and every single other business in our town was sued under this same “BS”. The chamber of commerce hired a lawyer who immediately advised everyone to settle. He had no doubt that we each would win BUT these guys made each store a separate case, so, to win in Federal Court in NY would take up to three years and cost between $20,000 and $30,000 ….. Per Store! They were “only” asking for between $5000 and $10,000 per store to go away. Multiply that by just over 3 Dozen businesses and they looked at a $200,000 to $400,000 payday! Just from our little town. The New York Times a few days later came out with a front page story showing how these guys had gone through virtually every community in Florida over the prior two years and had collected millions. The article pointed out that this “scam” only works in states where there is a law allowing “damages” from stores. (The Federal law does not.) So only states like Florida and NY who have these kinds of laws fall victim to these “people”!
I just saw a story like this about a couple of attorneys in California. They used a man in a motorized wheelchair to go to the businesses. ALL were small businesses that had been in the same location since before the ADA. You saw the size of that ADA compliant restroom in this story. Some businesses would have lost half their total space just for the restroom.. How many other states have this going on. Lawsuits don’t usually get in even local news, so there is no way to know unless someone says HELL NO! like this guy did.
I drive a semi and was recently rear ended by a woman in a pick up truck. That trailer bumper she hit is solid steel, there was no damage, I wasn’t hurt, nor was I traumatized. The lady was at fault but I figured let insurance handle it. The next 4 months I got tons of letters from attorneys in the New Mexico area offering legal service and suggesting I sue her. These attorneys are leeches. They will take your blood if given the opportunity to.
Yes! Ambulance chasers, is what those are. My friend owns a company that helps build playgrounds and they’ve been hit with so many frivolous lawsuits over people getting minor injuries from using a playground. And not because the playground was poorly built or any sort of negligence. The injuries were just normal ones. Pretty sure I’ve gotten hurt on the playground a few times, but nobody thought to sue anyone over it. It’s ridiculous! I did get hit by a car though and while I received a small amount of settlement money from the insurance company, I was physically fine and honestly the whole year it took to get it settled stressed me out. I didn’t even want to file a claim but my mother said I should. However, years later and I still have minor PTSD when I cross the street. In hindsight, I should’ve listened to the lawyer and get an assessment from a therapist. Because now I think I need therapy to ease the PTSD. At some point, it would be nice to cross the street without fear. Maybe someday I’ll have the money to get therapy. My friend recommended a sound and light therapy since sounds of cars are what triggers me most. Anyway… it’s just ridiculous what our country allows. I believe in using the law when necessary to fight evil and as a last resort to fix problems. But it shouldn’t be used to extort money or ruin businesses
These lawsuits much stop. If you are in business to feed your family, you should not be held liable for other people’s feelings. I’m 100% disabled from the Marine Corps and I would never sue anyone for such a thing. We need God, Common Sense, and a return to a great basic education in Constitutional and Common Law.
God? That has nothing to do with morals, cause religion is behind do much of what is wrong. Everyday, I see religion used to shower abuses on others nationwide. I am not lacking for morals just because I won't bow to a superstition that creates hate and orders people to condemn each other, even though their own codes say differently. Boebert is a prime example of religious extremism. Lies about her own coworkers and tries to paint targets on them. No thanks, I don't need her vision of religion in my life, or this nation. There is no mention of god or even 'divine' in our constitution. Not once!
@Christian Yeah, mind your own business. So why does God need to be any part of the government system? Keep the wall between church and state standing and you wouldn't have an issue. If people don't want to worship, you don't get to say anything about it. If people do want to worship, same deal. Only their actions/ethics matter, regardless of belief/philosophical system used.
I know this is an older story. This is how it works they will hire someone to do an audit. They can go in discreetly to do measurements and take pics. Like mystery shopping so might cost them $15 to get that info. Then after they have that info they can use that persons name or another name to file the lawsuit. I have done legitimate ADA audits before. It was just used to show the business where to make corrections to be in compliance.
Yes exactly. If something is out of compliance and a legitimate issue it's highly likely the business owner (who is likely leasing the space from a landlord) has no idea something isn't in compliance, especially if it's off by a couple inches. The owner and/or landlord should be notified and given an appropriate amount of time to correct the issue. A lawsuit shouldn't even be able to be filed, or even a fine issued, before that!
I hope everybody who indulges in lawsuits against small businesses who have an uphill battle to even open the doors, are satisfied when there are no businesses at all. Who will you be extirting then, shysters?
Tragic news - a bus filled with attorneys crashed down the side of a 1000 foot cliff yesterday killing everyone on board, tragically there were 2 empty seats.
You foreshadowed the punchline too hard. Breaking news: A bus fell down a 1000 foot cliff on the way to a law symposium and thankfully the bus driver manage to avoid death. Sadly there were two empty seats. You need that twist. I am sure you could work on the joke a bit longer for a better cadence.
All these restaurant owners in Colorado who were sued by this slimeball Abreu should get together and explore the possibility of a class action case against this shyster.
They should all get together and file complaints with the state bar association demanding investigations into his unethical actions and hopefully get him disbarred.
There's not really anything wrong with the ADA law, just like any law, there are ways to abuse it, which is exactly what happened here. The attorneys that were in on this scheme should all be disbarred and serving some prison time, and probably so should the disabled woman they hired to help them file all the claims against these businesses. She didn't even go inside some of these places claiming their gravel parking lot made it inaccessible to her. I don't know of any law that says a business cannot have a gravel parking lot, so to me that lawsuit was a false claim.
@@ralfie8801 I'm pretty sure the ADA will require a safe accessible route from the accessible parking spaces to the building. In order for it to be a safe accessible route, it has to have a firm, stable, and smooth surface. I'm in agreement with everyone here, the lawsuits are just a money grab.
This happened to a Mom and pop Mexican restaurant in my community. Attorney hired a wheelchair bound individual to complain and offer to take aTen thousand dollars pay off to go away. They decided to fight it and ended up paying thirty thousand in court costs and and attorney fees plus the costs of correcting the situation. Prior to this suit the owners would carry food out to any handicapped person who requested this service.
I knew a couple in Commifornia that made a really good living from fake civil lawsuits. They would settle out of court on most of them. Most large companies will settle rather than spending twice the amount of money fighting them.her favorite one was I cut myself trying to open your product. True they usually only add up to couple thousand dollars but when you have hundreds of lawsuits pending it adds up quick. They own dozens of nice houses and cars and travel a lot.they should be in jail in my opinion.
The problem isn't the attorneys, the problem is the law. Something doesn't make sense - he had to close the business for "months" to move a urinal, a grab bar, and toilet paper dispenser a few inches. Sounds like he's doing his own scam now. The real problem is we have all these ADA laws we have to comply with that are not practical. In some places we see many unoccupied disability parking spots. I saw a woman at Home Depot with a disability tag who was putting 40 lb. top soil bags in her truck. It's all out of control. Too many laws and regulations and too many people taking advantage.l
One thing that I absolutely hate about the media, is that they do a story like this, but then never follow up with any updates. This happened almost 3 years ago, but if you do a search on it, the only thing that comes up is the story that a lawsuit was filed. Nothing about the result or progress of the lawsuit
Agree. I think your comment is one reason these activities continue; people forget about them over time. It's irresponsible for our elected officials and courts to let these frivolous, exploitive and damaging law suits to continue.
These people suing for ADA violations should have to take video of them entering the business, showing the violations ad then bringing them to the owners attention. Then if the violations are not fixed within a reasonable timeframe then the person can sue the business. I would define reasonable timeframe as 2 weeks to 2 months depending on the amount of work that is needed. Also, any false reports should result in triple damages awarded to the person/business being sued.
Denver attorneys tried to shake me down for "sending an illegal advertisement via fax" from a flyer that was handed out in person. They demanded $5000.
Here in the UK we have similar ADA protocols. However, companies that are found not complying are given an improvement notice, lawyers cant just decide to take legal actions without first consulting the company!
Sounds reasonable! It should be a requirement for any US business found in violation of ADA to be submitted to the governing body in charge of enforcing ADA. And then only after they fail to comply after being served an improvement notice, that they can be sued. But, see, the US will never do that. Too much work on their part to have to oversee this. Useless government
From all that I can tell, it looks like the way this turned out is this guy was basically using the fact that he got sued for violating the ADA as a way to generate publicity for his restaurant when he was actually mismanaging it to the point that it went out of business. And of course if anyone stops long enough to listen to the facts as stated in the new story, they don't add up. How is it you get a free attorney, have to do a couple of hours worth of moving a few things around, and it cost you a total of a few hundred dollars… Yet you were closed for months and out of business? Of course that doesn't make sense. Of course there was more to the story and as it turns out there was multiple accusations between business partners of mismanagement that had nothing to do with a piddly little ADA lawsuit. It just doesn't make for exciting TV.
These ADA layers could care less about people with disabilities. They sound more like litigation trolls out to make money off of hard workihg small vulnerable business owners. These trolls specialize in going after those who can least afford to defend themselves. In the meantime, where were the Colorado restaurant inspectors? At least they would warn the resaurant owner of impending building code changes or give the owner a letter of code violations before fining the owner
The law was intentionally written in a way that made this possible though they will swear till the cows come home that it was inadvertent. Well, it has been 31 years now and nothing has changed.
Attorneys are licensed in their individual states. they should be only allowed to practice law within that state meaning that they can't go to other states and file frivolous lawsuits in other states.
Studied the law just to figure what loop holes and evil they can do . At the costs of people just trying to survive . What an embarrassing it must be for their families. Sold their souls to greed . Must be made to pay for that. Just WHO in law enforcement can we trust .
Yeah.. I got nailed for a tad over 20K because the blue lines in the parking lot were faded and the front door had 2 lb more pressure to open. Nothing I could do. Legalized extortion at it's best. All it did was take money saved for my kids future
A change in the law to limit ADA suits to correction of deficiency instead of a cash payment would eliminate this. Does any think the crooked lawyers who are in congress would do that????
Agreed. A lawyer did this in Austin, suing almost 300 businesses. Most of them received demand letters saying to pay a $5000 fine... they didn't even ask for the deficiency to be corrected. They weren't interested in helping people with disabilities, only in collecting $$$. It turned out the complaining client with the disability was the same person in all 300 cases. If the businesses owner was given the chance to make a correction, the lawyers would never collect money.
The law is already written that way. The way the scam works is to panic the person being sued to settle out of court. If that person being sued decides to take their chances in court, as noted above the lawyers will withdraw the case. In a civil lawsuit, people sue to recover damages. If there were no damages, there’s no basis for the lawsuit.
The only Santiago Abreu I could find in West Palm Beach is a Santiago Donalito Abreu, with conflicting ages, who last lived on Monroe Drive. The redacted image on the drivers license supplied by Abreu's attorneys shows someone in their 20's or 30's.
The ADA laws are such a joke, I live in a wheelchair and trust me they are a joke. You must have a 36 inch door in a hotel room for handicap. Sounds great doesn’t it, but the way it is written means nothing. My chair with my wide tires is 30 inches for going in areas like a beaches. Naturally I figured driving down to Clearwater Florida I thought ADA room great, nope. The law should be wrote door opening not door size. A 36 door with a 32 inch opening I have never seen because doors swing into walls shelves and other items. The law should be written opening size. but the corrupt system means a 36in door opening 28in passes fine even 20 passes. I have people pull hinges to get in room. And once in the room they can’t navigate around at all, nothing saying anything about that space inside. Bathrooms are pathetic what passes should be criminal. Always ask before reserving a room. A grab bar by the toilet passes you can’t even use safely. I ask does that mean roll in shower and chair. It 90 percent of the time doesn’t. These are people they should go after but would mean fighting good lawyers for years. Picking on little restaurant owner fining him enough so it’s easier to pay than fight caring nothing about handicap just easy money for a toilet paper roll is pathetic. Many federal places I can not enter with my chair. Broken lifts or no lifts are very common. Calling it a historic building they skate free from fixing problems but gut them every few years putting millions in them is ok. If people could see the government abuses they would be mad. Seen people get a ticket for no tag hanging in window while having a handicap license plate. Perfectly legal, permanent disability gets you a plate no tag. So you try and fight it but arrive at a court building considered historic and can’t get in and a warrant for your arrest gets filed. Small towns don’t have the budget to make a building that Accommodates but collect thousands in fines that should be used towards the problem, it never is. They use the laws as money makers for other things. Auto Zone near me uses every handicap spot for delivery trucks close to door and go. People using grandmas tag is a massive problem. But please never play doctor judging who uses a handicap spot, you can’t tell what cross they carry. Places with a place to unload chair are not reserved for vehicles like mine that need them ever. Seen people take them who don’t need them and have 5 other spots open without them. Handicap screwing over other handicap is normal, please don’t. I guess if people used common sense they would understand. Lost count of number of times someone parked a motorcycle in that spot after I went in a store and rolled out, even cars. Not my best moment in a fit of rage I loaded my chair dragging it up the side of car. How many times I had to park way out and use two parking spots. Now comes the problem of not getting run over in parking lot race tracks. I could write a book and greedy a-hole lawyers help no one.
Is this a case of AN.Other lawyer just flinging lawsuits? Tell me how that helps one disabled person? In the UK the equivalent to the ADA is administered by local government, and their first action is almost always to advise along the lines of "you need grab rails in the toilet". If the guy emails some photos of grab rails or they swing by a month later and they're fixed - it's all good. Only the most egregious cases go to court.
I think that cities and states would benefit from having 100 people volunteer to review laws for one week and eliminate the nonsense ones. Within 5 years they can get rid of a lot of nonsense. And another group of 100 people review cases by judges that probably shouldn't make it to trial and eliminate those judges. Lastly sleazy lawyers who file for cases like this get disbarred for life and some should probably go to pay massive fines - all accounts frozen before they even give notice of their trial.
Absolutely disgusting that there are people who would do this horrible thing! Small businesses struggle as it is. I can only hope that this restaurant owner won the case!!!!
It's supposedly this person who is injured in his restaurant I want phone records to locate his GPS on the day he was injured or inconvenienced and I want receipts of that person who visited that restaurant. Using straw people to get mortgages or file lawsuits is illegal.
This scam happened in San Francisco and around Northern California, a number of businesses had to shut down. It's why a lot of places here now have "no public restroom" signs posted.
The sad part about this story is that the man was saved, only because it is probable (due to their dismissal of the case) that the alleged victim of the ADA violations didn’t exist. If there was a real person who would be willing to go through the ordeal of a trial, I doubt it would have ended nearly as well for him. If I remember right, there used to be incidents where people would be “serial plaintiffs,” and would go to different restaurants only to later sue them in order to extort money, claiming things like “food poisoning” or other problems. They only needed a plausible story about their alleged grievance and a lawyer willing to represent them. This is like the reverse, where the attorney is the one in charge, looking for “clients” to represent. Only the lawyers in this case were lazy and didn’t bother even getting a person to play the victim.
So it sounds like the attorneys were looking at going after the TV station. What's that old saying about newspapers? "Never get into a war of words with someone who buys their ink by the gallon."
This is disgusting that these lawyers can sit there and do this. This is a criminal enterprise. It costs them nothing to file lawsuits with the court in their scheme to bilk money out of people. You'd think if these lawyers actually cared they would write a letter informing the business owner of the violations and see if he would correct them. Should be suing whatever government agency is responsible for inspecting this stuff.
It's so disgusting. I agree. That the owner of a restaurant would use a disabled person asserting their rights to attempt to generate sympathy because his business was going under due to mismanagement. Before you talk about how "disgusting" this is, why did nobody stop to ask themselves how is it that repairs it took a few hundred dollars in a few hours took this entire business down? Because it didn't.
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This is fantastic! Those corrupt attorneys should be charged with extortion and disbarred.
These lawyers really only want a quick payout without going to court. That is why it is extortion. They threaten a lawsuit, but as this guy pointed out, their offer was for him to pay what they demanded and they would just go away.
And racketeering as well.
I think you misspelled the last word. the correct spelling is s.h.o.t.
Dey shouln't be disbarred after all the prisons where dey should be have bars.
De-nutted by hammer 🔨
This is extortion, pure and simple. The con artists or lawyers should pay for every penny of court cost and time wasted by their fraud.
*Amen*
Good. People in wheelchairs need full access to everything. You don't have an accessible bathroom, you're getting sued. Tough shit.
@@boofert.washington2499 That was not the case here and you know it. Btw, I'm actually disabled, are you? Do you even know anything about the ADA?
Government sanctioned extortion
@@boofert.washington2499 Ease up, keyboard Rambo.
If there is a violation, it could be an honest mistake or an oversight. How about giving the business owner a chance to correct without litigation?
No, because all they are interested in is cash.
Even if there is a handicap person involved, the lawyer will get more than the 'victim '
I’m a partially blind architect with 20 years of experience designing ADA compliant facilities. I could’ve made a lot of money suing people. But only a scumbag would do that.
You spelled "attorney" wrong.
Unfortunately, there are plenty of scumbags in our society. Wish it was different.
Saw brief documentary of an architect who became blind and greatly enhanced his design skills in ways that helped both blind & seeing clients (occupants) navigate large spaces and buildings. Sorry can’t recall details… perhaps on PBS?
Did you consider that you had a long career in ADA compliance because of the scumbag attorneys who provide an incentive for businesses to seek out your preemptive services?
@@thebookwasbetter3650 Consider wearing blindfold & trying to navigate public spaces/buildings, or if you prefer, I’m sure someone you know would oblige and render you blind so you can better understand.
God bless this man, I hope he takes them to the cleaners!
Unless…
He lost the case and as it turns out rightfully so.
@@aigtrader2984 - Too bad, obviously a victory for freeloading parasites, which apparently includes you.
The employees of his business put out of work by the lawsuit have a legal claim as well. All hands on deck; sue those bad actors!
Good luck to the business, its owner, and all the employees.
What's the update on this mess? Any sources that are following this?
you can only sue if you can pay the bill. ! 450 per hour is not cheep.
@@awack_ lmao, do you know how this works? Anything about lawyers? No, and no. The guy's law firm files false law suits for a living and does so on a contingent fee basis (= 0 fee unless settled). Law firm's secretary ($26/hour) spits the same complaint out of her computer that's been used 200 times before, changes date and name of party to sue (total 1.5 minutes). Shortly after, law firm and complainant agree to a settlement with defendant of $15,000. Law firm takes 35 percent cut, collects $5,250 for secretary's 1.5 minutes of "work," complainant pockets a tidy $9,750. Nobody ever intend for this to go to a civil trial in an actual court of law. Both complainant and his lawyers are frauds. Complainant should be locked up for felony fraud and attorneys disbarred for life. That's how this, and lawyers, work. (btw, it's spelled "cheap")
@@rla1000 Took prior comment as targeted business can only sue shyster misusing ADA law for damages if wealthy. Still not always true as, especially here (many ‘injured’ parties) a law firm may take case on 100% contingency.
@@awack_ a Class Action on contingency or pro bono basis are both available avenues, though you’re basic premise is correct: US citizens get precisely as much Justice as they can afford. 🤷♂️😢
Disbarred and lose a lot of money in fines, fees and paying this man back plus a lot!
Add a couple of years of prison to that and I'm on board
Disbarred for what? He did his job. This guy lost this case, and his business… But it had very little to do with an ADA lawsuit
I’ve been paraplegic since before the ADA became a law (1993). At the time the law was pass this was the primary concern of those who opposed the law - frivolous lawsuits. At the time these objections were dismissed because these lawsuits would be dismissed in court.
It took 28 years but the attorneys finally worked out a way to profit from the law, settlements prior to the case getting to the courts.
That’s what people learn in law school, how to abuse the legal system for profit.
Have you gotten better access in the meantime? I have.
Why would you bite the hand of those who fought for our rights? Do you want to see narrow aisles and stairs again? Do you enjoy not being able to reach the paper towel dispenser? Is the thrill of wondering whether they will have a table that can accommodate you worth it?
It is NOT for most others. I see it a lot among the wounded veterans I know, not being able to patronize businesses they once enjoyed because it's so restricted. "Thank you for your service" means nothing when you can't join the crowd and have to eat in your vehicle.
@@mbryson2899 nice lie and bull crap. Ever hear of the us constitution. No expostfacto laws The hole ADA has trash the us constitution. Hint all new house if they have hallways must be 42" wide. My house 🏡 built in 1996 has 36" wide hallways. I bet when I sell my house 🏠 I will get hit with ADA law suits
@@dknowles60, what lie?
And yes, I have heard of the Constitution. Do you know that ADA is part of Constitutionally upheld law?
Too bad about your house. Maybe you should have bought in Russia where they just don't care.
@Marc Mescher, ADA passed in 1990. Nice try, poser.
@@mbryson2899 slavery was once oked by law. That ADA trashed the us constitution
They tried to sue over 1,000 businesses in Arizona.....Judge through them out of court. Lawyer said, he wouldn't talk to local Phoenix News team, because they weren't real news station, lmao. Some judge needs to put them totally out of business, they are extortionists plain and simple.
They also disbarred the lawyer in Arizona! I think lawsuits are a coming now!
Ohhhh the judge played the Trump and Repuckalin card fake news.
@@danbailey96 ... It was the losing attorney, not the judge, who said that the Phoenix station's news team was fake news.
It also made AZ change the laws so that the businesses had like a 30 days to respond or like 60 to fix the problem before they could sue.
@@nate6386 Positive changes made , Glad to see this!
Hiking on a trail in Maine, I came across a privy (backcountry bathroom) that had a massive 40' wheelchair ramp. In the middle of nowhere, in the mountains, at least 50 miles from the nearest road. A trail maintainer told me that because it was on federal land, they were required to make the bathroom ADA accessible which more than doubled the cost of construction. Even though nobody in a wheelchair could get there without a helicopter.
Ya never know when the wheelchair ninja will show
@@mattkennedy6115 True. I also wouldn't put it past one of these ADA lawyers to haul a wheelchair 50 miles through the mountains to get a picture of their 'client' unable to use the privy
It enriches buddy system contractors tho...
Got to love federal regulations
Makes me think of drive-up ATMs with braille. Drive-Up
Good for him, they need to produce this person who stated he visited the restaurant. Shame on these lawyers!
They will throw somebody up there but I want phone records and credit card receipts to prove they were inside the restaurant.
They did produce the person, they lost this lawsuit, and the ADA violation had nothing to do with him losing his business. But of course the media can't do their damn job and tell the entire story
Why isn’t the Colorado attorney general and governor protecting their citizens and business owners?
Because it is a Federal statute. There is little that the state can do about it.
@@nunya3163, you would be surprised what a motivated gov and AG can do. Oh, by the way, it is sort of their job.
Only if they can overturn federal legislation. The Americans with Disabilities Act isn't some Denver law on the books for a century nobody follows anymore, it's federal law. Maybe these businesses should be compliant with federal law.
@@notchomomma239 The issue with the last line in your statement, is that something being off by 1/8 of an inch can make then non-compliant. They can even enhance access, but be non-compliant.
@@nunya3163and John Crawford, here is the fly in the ointment. It’s against federal law to smoke weed in Colorado. Do you see what the gov and ag are doing about it? Too much money involved for these grifters. Please don’t bring up fed law vs state law again.
imagine if attorneys in this country used their abilities for good instead of personal gain for themselves and giant corporations.
I like it when the founding fathers were farmers. No lawyer was a founding father. It was a lot better
@@dknowles60 Uh . . . you do know many of the _founding fathers_ were actually attorneys/lawyers, right? 35 of the men considered _founding fathers_ were lawyers.
@@spiderpickle3255 wrong lawyer's don't know how to fight farmers do
@@dknowles60 🤦🏽♀️
Well, that wouldn’t be “America”, now would it?
Some Attorneys are nothing more than the modern, lying, ambulance chasers.
I have a name for those types of attorneys: Litigation Pirates.
Many are, half probably
Yes, but think of all the good the lawyers do for society. It is all those endless "call my law firm if you were injured" ads that keep daytime television on the air. No more soap operas and game shows.
Some??
@@c.davidgraves4848
I'm half convinced that the first message we ever receive from am an interstellar alien race will be...
"Have you been involved in an accident that wasn't your fault?"
As someone who is actually disabled, access is something I look for and I will ask it to be addressed 99% of the time, all it takes is pointing out that something might be a problem for people with disabilities.
These lawyers are actually making access harder, because these lawsuits piss people off, and the ones who are effected by that rage are people with disabilities.
Yes
What about addressing businesses that don't comply with ADA requirements? Should they be let off the hook for ignoring the needs of people with disabilities?
@@madjimms I mean even the original poster does say 99% of the time. For that 1% of people who don't want to follow the law there are consequences. Much like many laws we have on the books, when correctly applied and in good faith they are great.
But when put into the hands of bad actors like these hopefully soon to be former attorneys, they make a mockery of the legal system and endanger the very purpose of a law. these frivolous legal actions make people less likely to want to comply with demands for access as they have to fear for legal action regardless of their good faith efforts.
Lawyers and officers should be held to a considerably higher standard than the general population due to these public perception issues that abuse cause. They are granted a higher level of privilege in the operation of their jobs and need to understand said privilege is part of a responsibility to the public to operate in a good faith manor with it else the rule of law itself would suffer.
@@madjimms does the man in this video seem like the 1% of people who don’t? Do you assume that by not wanting to punish people who will OP doesn’t want those who won’t to be? Are you bringing this whataboutery up for no reason?
Yes as it turned out this guy did not lose his restaurant because of an ADA lawsuit that cost him less than $1000. Media of course does not report the entire story and it's funny because this guy also suit his business partner as the reason why the business was going under
I had this happen to me in San Diego, CA about 10 years ago. I owned a yoga studio and was in complete compliance with local ordinances. The scammers even tried to serve me papers. I ignored them and they stopped bothering me, but some other local businesses lmweren't so lucky. These "lawyers" think they can intimidate people into paying out on false claims. The worst of it is they usually pick on small business's run by people who can't afford to fight back. I've heard of some business even being shut down permanently over this. This scam has been gong on for decades, there really should be laws against it.
Iam so glad I too have a small restaurant in California I’m just about ready to shut it down I have been sued three times in less than an year all frivolous claims fighting is triple the price of settling so people continue to get extorted . The whole block has gotten sued .How can this be legal?
You need to fight back and make a huge example of one of the entities suing you. Think asymmetric warfare. Show up at the lawyer's house. Start talking to his neighbors. Hire a private investigator to find wrongdoing. No one will sue you if they are frightened to death of you.
@@justinmanley8131 I watched a video where small businesses were getting sued so much over little petty junk,by the same law firm to,that even the advocates for the disabled were getting upset over the frivolous lawsuits. They said whoever was behind it was actually HURTING the disabled community by setting the disabled and the bussiness community against each other when it was better for both to be on friendly terms.
@@tritchie6272 The reality is, these suits have nothing to do with business or the disabled. Both businesses and the disabled are simply victims of a form of attempted theft cloaked as a lawsuit. Its a form of unethical behavior that needs to be punished. The victims should not be happy to just end the lawsuit, they should take it personally and destroy the perpetrators in a legal fashion. It only takes a few lawyers losing their careers to stifle these types of actions.
Get old school with em
No "loser pays" like most other countries. Basically invites lawsuits.
Robbery by lawsuit. It's a part of American culture. I created this term decades ago already.
I thought America was perfect in every way. It always likes to advise other countries on how they should conduct their affairs.
@@arlosmith9504 America isn't perfect but my god is it a step up from most everywhere else. It was created with the knowledge that politicians are corrupt idiots. That is one of the reasons why the constitution is based on negative rights.
@@vagabondwastrel2361 Yes, tens of thousands of deaths by firearms each year, a hundred thousand deaths by drug overdose, the obesity crisis, random shootings of black people by aggressive police officers, a gigantic proportion of the population in prison, increasing economic inequality, the broken legal system, a healthcare system where getting ill means financial ruin for many people, out of control corporations that think of nothing other than accumulating wealth regardless of the social costs, per capita emissions of greenhouse gases twice as high as any other country in the world, the hollowed out wastelands there were once industrial cities, an electoral system where super-rich puppets buy their way into office... America is definitely way better than any other country, a real role model we can all look up to.
@@arlosmith9504 The greenhouse gases point is wrong. Inequality isn't a bad thing as long as you have equal opportunity. The electoral system was created to prevent politics from the cities from destroying the country as they observed in other countries. The healthcare system is in a horrible medium place between a socialist system and a free market system. Obama's destruction of the healthcare system killed state programs such as badger medical that gave low income households a functional insurance for 1$ a month. Even with the problems of the American healthcare system we develop the bulk of medical innovation.
The part you are missing is you have to compare it to other countries. Drugs and obesity are life choices. There are already proven methods to destroy crime but civil rights leaders called them racist so they stopped. Most crime is located on like 1% of the streets. All they have to do is flood that area with cops for a year and the criminal elements get removed and that area improves without the crime coming back. It simply forms in new areas so you move the main force of officers. They tested this in Minneapolis. It reduced crime by like 50% in the first few months. The study also was expanded world wide and found out the same percentage of streets being the problem is consistent. Then you have the broken window theory that helped save New York.
Freedom always over safety. Because safety can be removed at any time.
@@vagabondwastrel2361 O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
Robert Burns
1786
Who ever wrote the comment below are you aware that some of these people file more than 147 claims in one year and that they do not eaven show up to the establishments they sue it’s nothing less than robbery!
Not to mention they don't want change, they only want money.
@@billrogers3139 Ill say
They hire someone to do an audit. They can go in discreetly to do measurements and take pics. Like mystery shopping so might cost them $15 to get that info.
The comment above this one is from 8 hours ago. The comment below this one is from 4 days ago. I really think you should have used the REPLY link 2 years ago because I don't know what comment you are referring to.
Trying to follow the various ‘codes’ is nearly impossible. Code evolves over the years to correct ‘problems’.
But there’s also contrary requirements. My insurance company demanded that the main door to my business, must only be unlockable by using a key, both outside and inside, for extra security. But this was in direct violation of fire code, which insists that from the inside the door must be unlockable without a key. But when I purchased the building, it was all to code with no ‘latches’ to easily unlock the doors.
Or insisting that my smoke detectors be independent of the building (run by their own battery power source). 3 years later they had to be hard wired into the building (because people don’t maintain the batteries). Then within 2 years, the hard wired units weren’t saving anything (most fires are electrical and once the electric shorts the detector has no power). So I had to install hardwired WITH battery backup.
Another example was when the smoking ban started. Bars had to put in expensive air filtration systems. Some of those bars had only had the systems installed and running for about 6 weeks when the code changed banning all smoking inside businesses. So a $10K-$20K system (plus installation and modifications to the building) became obsolete. Right after they became ‘used equipment’, so the business couldn’t recoup any of the expenses.
So restaurants and bars had to build outdoor smoking areas. And that changed within 6 months too.
*it honestly appeared to be a money grab. An easy way to sell useless permits and impose fines.
Damn dude.
you know that Wal mart had fire doors that make a lot of noise and will not unlock for 15 seconds
The same thing happened when I bought a business in Vancouver, BC. First to call were the cops who told me to change the locks so they could only be opened with a key from the inside. And a few weeks later the Fire Dept showed up and told me I had to change the locks because they were a fire violation. So I changed them back.
Of course hard wired with battery backup. Nothing else makes sense in that if it is available it should be installed. Keep in mind that the back up battery runs both detection and signalisation in case of a main failure. It's unfortunate for you but saving lives is more important than what you are complaining about.
There is nothing simple , that a building full of bourocrats cannot complicate.
Great way to stop the nonsense! Hopefully you win!
7 years ago my family’s store and every single other business in our town was sued under this same “BS”. The chamber of commerce hired a lawyer who immediately advised everyone to settle. He had no doubt that we each would win BUT these guys made each store a separate case, so, to win in Federal Court in NY would take up to three years and cost between $20,000 and $30,000 ….. Per Store! They were “only” asking for between $5000 and $10,000 per store to go away. Multiply that by just over 3 Dozen businesses and they looked at a $200,000 to $400,000 payday! Just from our little town.
The New York Times a few days later came out with a front page story showing how these guys had gone through virtually every community in Florida over the prior two years and had collected millions. The article pointed out that this “scam” only works in states where there is a law allowing “damages” from stores. (The Federal law does not.) So only states like Florida and NY who have these kinds of laws fall victim to these “people”!
I just saw a story like this about a couple of attorneys in California. They used a man in a motorized wheelchair to go to the businesses. ALL were small businesses that had been in the same location since before the ADA. You saw the size of that ADA compliant restroom in this story. Some businesses would have lost half their total space just for the restroom.. How many other states have this going on. Lawsuits don’t usually get in even local news, so there is no way to know unless someone says HELL NO! like this guy did.
I drive a semi and was recently rear ended by a woman in a pick up truck. That trailer bumper she hit is solid steel, there was no damage, I wasn’t hurt, nor was I traumatized. The lady was at fault but I figured let insurance handle it. The next 4 months I got tons of letters from attorneys in the New Mexico area offering legal service and suggesting I sue her. These attorneys are leeches. They will take your blood if given the opportunity to.
Yes! Ambulance chasers, is what those are. My friend owns a company that helps build playgrounds and they’ve been hit with so many frivolous lawsuits over people getting minor injuries from using a playground. And not because the playground was poorly built or any sort of negligence. The injuries were just normal ones. Pretty sure I’ve gotten hurt on the playground a few times, but nobody thought to sue anyone over it. It’s ridiculous!
I did get hit by a car though and while I received a small amount of settlement money from the insurance company, I was physically fine and honestly the whole year it took to get it settled stressed me out. I didn’t even want to file a claim but my mother said I should. However, years later and I still have minor PTSD when I cross the street. In hindsight, I should’ve listened to the lawyer and get an assessment from a therapist. Because now I think I need therapy to ease the PTSD. At some point, it would be nice to cross the street without fear. Maybe someday I’ll have the money to get therapy. My friend recommended a sound and light therapy since sounds of cars are what triggers me most.
Anyway… it’s just ridiculous what our country allows. I believe in using the law when necessary to fight evil and as a last resort to fix problems. But it shouldn’t be used to extort money or ruin businesses
Clearly a form of extortion and the police should be looking into the matter.
You saw the prosecutor of the Rittenhouse case. They can be crooked as heck.
Not to mention msnbc and others lying about every aspect of the case and getting away with it.
These lawsuits much stop. If you are in business to feed your family, you should not be held liable for other people’s feelings. I’m 100% disabled from the Marine Corps and I would never sue anyone for such a thing. We need God, Common Sense, and a return to a great basic education in Constitutional and Common Law.
God? That has nothing to do with morals, cause religion is behind do much of what is wrong. Everyday, I see religion used to shower abuses on others nationwide. I am not lacking for morals just because I won't bow to a superstition that creates hate and orders people to condemn each other, even though their own codes say differently. Boebert is a prime example of religious extremism. Lies about her own coworkers and tries to paint targets on them. No thanks, I don't need her vision of religion in my life, or this nation. There is no mention of god or even 'divine' in our constitution. Not once!
@Christian Yeah, mind your own business. So why does God need to be any part of the government system? Keep the wall between church and state standing and you wouldn't have an issue. If people don't want to worship, you don't get to say anything about it. If people do want to worship, same deal. Only their actions/ethics matter, regardless of belief/philosophical system used.
I know this is an older story. This is how it works they will hire someone to do an audit. They can go in discreetly to do measurements and take pics. Like mystery shopping so might cost them $15 to get that info. Then after they have that info they can use that persons name or another name to file the lawsuit. I have done legitimate ADA audits before. It was just used to show the business where to make corrections to be in compliance.
Yes exactly. If something is out of compliance and a legitimate issue it's highly likely the business owner (who is likely leasing the space from a landlord) has no idea something isn't in compliance, especially if it's off by a couple inches. The owner and/or landlord should be notified and given an appropriate amount of time to correct the issue. A lawsuit shouldn't even be able to be filed, or even a fine issued, before that!
I hope everybody who indulges in lawsuits against small businesses who have an uphill battle to even open the doors, are satisfied when there are no businesses at all. Who will you be extirting then, shysters?
Tragic news - a bus filled with attorneys crashed down the side of a 1000 foot cliff yesterday killing everyone on board, tragically there were 2 empty seats.
Soooo funny.
You foreshadowed the punchline too hard.
Breaking news: A bus fell down a 1000 foot cliff on the way to a law symposium and thankfully the bus driver manage to avoid death. Sadly there were two empty seats.
You need that twist. I am sure you could work on the joke a bit longer for a better cadence.
Those attorney should be disbarred
All these restaurant owners in Colorado who were sued by this slimeball Abreu should get together and explore the possibility of a class action case against this shyster.
They should all get together and file complaints with the state bar association demanding investigations into his unethical actions and hopefully get him disbarred.
The problem is firstly with the law.
There's not really anything wrong with the ADA law, just like any law, there are ways to abuse it, which is exactly what happened here. The attorneys that were in on this scheme should all be disbarred and serving some prison time, and probably so should the disabled woman they hired to help them file all the claims against these businesses. She didn't even go inside some of these places claiming their gravel parking lot made it inaccessible to her. I don't know of any law that says a business cannot have a gravel parking lot, so to me that lawsuit was a false claim.
@@ralfie8801 I'm pretty sure the ADA will require a safe accessible route from the accessible parking spaces to the building. In order for it to be a safe accessible route, it has to have a firm, stable, and smooth surface.
I'm in agreement with everyone here, the lawsuits are just a money grab.
This happened to a Mom and pop Mexican restaurant in my community. Attorney hired a wheelchair bound individual to complain and offer to take aTen thousand dollars pay off to go away. They decided to fight it and ended up paying thirty thousand in court costs and and attorney fees plus the costs of correcting the situation. Prior to this suit the owners would carry food out to any handicapped person who requested this service.
Wow, after seeing the whole story, I completely agree this guy should sue, especially once nobody could produce the plaintiff to be deposed
I knew a couple in Commifornia that made a really good living from fake civil lawsuits. They would settle out of court on most of them. Most large companies will settle rather than spending twice the amount of money fighting them.her favorite one was I cut myself trying to open your product. True they usually only add up to couple thousand dollars but when you have hundreds of lawsuits pending it adds up quick. They own dozens of nice houses and cars and travel a lot.they should be in jail in my opinion.
The problem isn't the attorneys, the problem is the law. Something doesn't make sense - he had to close the business for "months" to move a urinal, a grab bar, and toilet paper dispenser a few inches. Sounds like he's doing his own scam now. The real problem is we have all these ADA laws we have to comply with that are not practical. In some places we see many unoccupied disability parking spots. I saw a woman at Home Depot with a disability tag who was putting 40 lb. top soil bags in her truck. It's all out of control. Too many laws and regulations and too many people taking advantage.l
One thing that I absolutely hate about the media, is that they do a story like this, but then never follow up with any updates. This happened almost 3 years ago, but if you do a search on it, the only thing that comes up is the story that a lawsuit was filed. Nothing about the result or progress of the lawsuit
Probably because it’s still ongoing, civil law suits can last a decade even.
Agree. I think your comment is one reason these activities continue; people forget about them over time. It's irresponsible for our elected officials and courts to let these frivolous, exploitive and damaging law suits to continue.
99% of all attorneys make the other 1% look bad. ;-)
Profession of a rouge.
Good for him, the Restaurant owner. It’s about time the tables are turned for this pathetic lawyers!! I only wish the others will follow.
These people suing for ADA violations should have to take video of them entering the business, showing the violations ad then bringing them to the owners attention. Then if the violations are not fixed within a reasonable timeframe then the person can sue the business. I would define reasonable timeframe as 2 weeks to 2 months depending on the amount of work that is needed.
Also, any false reports should result in triple damages awarded to the person/business being sued.
Denver attorneys tried to shake me down for "sending an illegal advertisement via fax" from a flyer that was handed out in person. They demanded $5000.
This happened in Julian, Ca. The attorney who tried this was eventually disbarred.
Can we get an update? It's been almost three years since the story aired. I imagine it must have been dealt with by now.
It is interesting that asking to depose the plaintiff shut this all down. Now we know what to do when hit with one of these suits.
Here in the UK we have similar ADA protocols. However, companies that are found not complying are given an improvement notice, lawyers cant just decide to take legal actions without first consulting the company!
Sounds reasonable! It should be a requirement for any US business found in violation of ADA to be submitted to the governing body in charge of enforcing ADA. And then only after they fail to comply after being served an improvement notice, that they can be sued. But, see, the US will never do that. Too much work on their part to have to oversee this. Useless government
A lawyer in Albuquerque did this. Scammed hundreds of small businesses on ADA claims.
NOTHING WORSE THAN ATTORNEYS, No scruples, morales or ethics in the profession!
To be fair, they have ethics. Sadly those ethics are not recognized by people.
sounds like extortion
I am curious as to how this turned out. Really pulling for this guy - I agree the extortionists should be held accountable and stopped.
From all that I can tell, it looks like the way this turned out is this guy was basically using the fact that he got sued for violating the ADA as a way to generate publicity for his restaurant when he was actually mismanaging it to the point that it went out of business. And of course if anyone stops long enough to listen to the facts as stated in the new story, they don't add up. How is it you get a free attorney, have to do a couple of hours worth of moving a few things around, and it cost you a total of a few hundred dollars… Yet you were closed for months and out of business? Of course that doesn't make sense. Of course there was more to the story and as it turns out there was multiple accusations between business partners of mismanagement that had nothing to do with a piddly little ADA lawsuit. It just doesn't make for exciting TV.
These ADA layers could care less about people with disabilities. They sound more like litigation trolls out to make money off of hard workihg small vulnerable business owners. These trolls specialize in going after those who can least afford to defend themselves. In the meantime, where were the Colorado restaurant inspectors? At least they would warn the resaurant owner of impending building code changes or give the owner a letter of code violations before fining the owner
Had this happen to me a few years ago in Massachusetts they lawyer was from Florida it cost me 5k in lawyer fees for my lawyer to make him go away.
I would have done it for 3.
The law was intentionally written in a way that made this possible though they will swear till the cows come home that it was inadvertent. Well, it has been 31 years now and nothing has changed.
Attorneys are licensed in their individual states. they should be only allowed to practice law within that state meaning that they can't go to other states and file frivolous lawsuits in other states.
Studied the law just to figure what loop holes and evil they can do . At the costs of people just trying to survive . What an embarrassing it must be for their families. Sold their souls to greed . Must be made to pay for that. Just WHO in law enforcement can we trust .
The same thing is happening in the Bay Area, attorneys have closed 4 golf courses
Yeah.. I got nailed for a tad over 20K because the blue lines in the parking lot were faded and the front door had 2 lb more pressure to open. Nothing I could do. Legalized extortion at it's best. All it did was take money saved for my kids future
Want to bet the guy who filed the suit had never been there in the first place?
Class action lawsuits need to come, 1,000 cases were just thrown out in Arizona, one lawyer disbarred!
Class action! Get them!
What are 1000 lawyers chained to a massive concrete block on the bottom of the ocean?
A good beginning
A change in the law to limit ADA suits to correction of deficiency instead of a cash payment would eliminate this. Does any think the crooked lawyers who are in congress would do that????
Agreed. A lawyer did this in Austin, suing almost 300 businesses. Most of them received demand letters saying to pay a $5000 fine... they didn't even ask for the deficiency to be corrected. They weren't interested in helping people with disabilities, only in collecting $$$. It turned out the complaining client with the disability was the same person in all 300 cases. If the businesses owner was given the chance to make a correction, the lawyers would never collect money.
The law is already written that way. The way the scam works is to panic the person being sued to settle out of court. If that person being sued decides to take their chances in court, as noted above the lawyers will withdraw the case.
In a civil lawsuit, people sue to recover damages. If there were no damages, there’s no basis for the lawsuit.
Oh damn! PUT ME ON THE JURY!
Wow. This is disgusting. These lawsuits ruin the intent of the ADA to help make places accessible for people with very real disabilities. :(
I would also file complaints with the state bar association in the states that they practice in
If I look, am I gonna find a story about those ambulance chasers suing the reporter and station?
This was almost three years ago! Any resolution?
Make the lawyers pay to make improvements.
The only Santiago Abreu I could find in West Palm Beach is a Santiago Donalito Abreu, with conflicting ages, who last lived on Monroe Drive. The redacted image on the drivers license supplied by Abreu's attorneys shows someone in their 20's or 30's.
The ADA laws are such a joke, I live in a wheelchair and trust me they are a joke. You must have a 36 inch door in a hotel room for handicap. Sounds great doesn’t it, but the way it is written means nothing. My chair with my wide tires is 30 inches for going in areas like a beaches. Naturally I figured driving down to Clearwater Florida I thought ADA room great, nope. The law should be wrote door opening not door size. A 36 door with a 32 inch opening I have never seen because doors swing into walls shelves and other items. The law should be written opening size. but the corrupt system means a 36in door opening 28in passes fine even 20 passes. I have people pull hinges to get in room. And once in the room they can’t navigate around at all, nothing saying anything about that space inside. Bathrooms are pathetic what passes should be criminal. Always ask before reserving a room. A grab bar by the toilet passes you can’t even use safely. I ask does that mean roll in shower and chair. It 90 percent of the time doesn’t. These are people they should go after but would mean fighting good lawyers for years. Picking on little restaurant owner fining him enough so it’s easier to pay than fight caring nothing about handicap just easy money for a toilet paper roll is pathetic. Many federal places I can not enter with my chair. Broken lifts or no lifts are very common. Calling it a historic building they skate free from fixing problems but gut them every few years putting millions in them is ok. If people could see the government abuses they would be mad. Seen people get a ticket for no tag hanging in window while having a handicap license plate. Perfectly legal, permanent disability gets you a plate no tag. So you try and fight it but arrive at a court building considered historic and can’t get in and a warrant for your arrest gets filed. Small towns don’t have the budget to make a building that Accommodates but collect thousands in fines that should be used towards the problem, it never is. They use the laws as money makers for other things. Auto Zone near me uses every handicap spot for delivery trucks close to door and go. People using grandmas tag is a massive problem. But please never play doctor judging who uses a handicap spot, you can’t tell what cross they carry. Places with a place to unload chair are not reserved for vehicles like mine that need them ever. Seen people take them who don’t need them and have 5 other spots open without them. Handicap screwing over other handicap is normal, please don’t. I guess if people used common sense they would understand. Lost count of number of times someone parked a motorcycle in that spot after I went in a store and rolled out, even cars. Not my best moment in a fit of rage I loaded my chair dragging it up the side of car. How many times I had to park way out and use two parking spots. Now comes the problem of not getting run over in parking lot race tracks. I could write a book and greedy a-hole lawyers help no one.
Is this a case of AN.Other lawyer just flinging lawsuits? Tell me how that helps one disabled person?
In the UK the equivalent to the ADA is administered by local government, and their first action is almost always to advise along the lines of "you need grab rails in the toilet". If the guy emails some photos of grab rails or they swing by a month later and they're fixed - it's all good. Only the most egregious cases go to court.
It's extortion, only about money.
@@lobitome it certainly seems that way.
Extortion pure and simple.
I think that cities and states would benefit from having 100 people volunteer to review laws for one week and eliminate the nonsense ones. Within 5 years they can get rid of a lot of nonsense. And another group of 100 people review cases by judges that probably shouldn't make it to trial and eliminate those judges. Lastly sleazy lawyers who file for cases like this get disbarred for life and some should probably go to pay massive fines - all accounts frozen before they even give notice of their trial.
Absolutely disgusting that there are people who would do this horrible thing! Small businesses struggle as it is. I can only hope that this restaurant owner won the case!!!!
...and attorneys wonder why they are hated.
No they don't. They know excatly why they are hated and they'll sue you over it LoL
Maybe two decades ago two talk show hosts on KFI in Los Angeles got some attorneys disbarred for the same thing. Good work John and Ken.
Crooked lawyers, who would have thunk it
Sound like they planned to take it to court. Any info on how this turned out or are the wheels of justice still slowly grinding?
It's supposedly this person who is injured in his restaurant I want phone records to locate his GPS on the day he was injured or inconvenienced and I want receipts of that person who visited that restaurant. Using straw people to get mortgages or file lawsuits is illegal.
This scam happened in San Francisco and around Northern California, a number of businesses had to shut down.
It's why a lot of places here now have "no public restroom" signs posted.
It's also why so many products have a label that says " Causes cancer in California" or something like that.
@@sylviaisgod6947 Incorrect. Calif. requires a label on qualifying products that state "contains materials known to cause cancer, etc."
@@Rickinsf Good thing I don't live there, don't really need cancer at this point in my life.
One of these Phoenix shysters was disbarred, but he still files suits on his own behalf claiming he is disabled.
Someone should correct that problem.
By gosh, I how he really wins big-time.
Two years ago. WHAT HAPPENED ❓❓❓
Been observing this as a growing trend, outright evil
The sad part about this story is that the man was saved, only because it is probable (due to their dismissal of the case) that the alleged victim of the ADA violations didn’t exist. If there was a real person who would be willing to go through the ordeal of a trial, I doubt it would have ended nearly as well for him.
If I remember right, there used to be incidents where people would be “serial plaintiffs,” and would go to different restaurants only to later sue them in order to extort money, claiming things like “food poisoning” or other problems. They only needed a plausible story about their alleged grievance and a lawyer willing to represent them.
This is like the reverse, where the attorney is the one in charge, looking for “clients” to represent. Only the lawyers in this case were lazy and didn’t bother even getting a person to play the victim.
So it sounds like the attorneys were looking at going after the TV station.
What's that old saying about newspapers? "Never get into a war of words with someone who buys their ink by the gallon."
This is disgusting that these lawyers can sit there and do this. This is a criminal enterprise. It costs them nothing to file lawsuits with the court in their scheme to bilk money out of people. You'd think if these lawyers actually cared they would write a letter informing the business owner of the violations and see if he would correct them. Should be suing whatever government agency is responsible for inspecting this stuff.
It's so disgusting. I agree. That the owner of a restaurant would use a disabled person asserting their rights to attempt to generate sympathy because his business was going under due to mismanagement. Before you talk about how "disgusting" this is, why did nobody stop to ask themselves how is it that repairs it took a few hundred dollars in a few hours took this entire business down? Because it didn't.
Corruption everywhere they need to be stopped and put in jail.
They should be in jail for a very long time!
No probabtion, no parole, the full term of the sentenance!
Its legal extortion, and the Mexican Cartels can teach a thing or 2 on how to deal with corrupt shysters.
Arrests, RICO Awards $ to the Business Owners & PRISON TIME for Attorneys & client, imo.
If it took two minutes to fix, how come the restaurant was shut “for months”?
These small businesses need to file a class action against these bottom feeding attorneys who make their money scamming hundreds of businesses.
I have a Law Degree . I think I'll go into Extortion to retire early .
there is where laws and justice separate.
the lawsuit would require the company has to make repairs.
no payments to anyone except the contractors.
What do you call a thousand attorneys given concrete overshoes and dumped overboard in the Bermuda Triangle? (A good start.)
The attorneys responsible for this should be robbed in the middle of the night of everything they own, and the proceeds given to the disabled.
The crooked lawyers should end up homeless and pennyless.
Good for this guy.
Great reporting .real journalism .
Hope the guy wins. Others can use it as case law.
Attorneys that file “Frivolous” lawsuits that benefit only the attorney and/or plaintiff and do nothing else should be disbarred.