Shuttered business wins ADA lawsuit fight
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- Опубликовано: 9 мар 2017
- Denver7 investigative reporter Ryan Luby tells us the owner of a popular Colorado restaurant who fought back against a serial lawsuit filer believes the plaintiff had little desire to put up a fight, preferring to collect a quick, sizable settlement instead.
Extortion is a crime and should be prosecuted fully.
The crime is enacting legislation that enables the extortion.
Just like Title IX has ruined school sports.
@@patmcbride9853 True. True. I just saw a youtube video with the headline, "Judge calls the disability law a shell game. But before the lawmakers correct the problem many, many people will be harmed.
As a person in a wheelchair for 35 years, I agree with you. The ADA was never meant to ruin people’s lives and livelihoods. It’s purpose is to make inclusion for all. I believe the owners should have recourse against this crime. I think 90 days for a business to respond is perfect and 180 days for a business to make changes to address the issues. I have always found that talking to an owner solved my issues and informed them that something wasn’t right.
Unfortunately the worst that ever happens to these extortionists is they are designated 'vexatious litigants.'
It was simply bad law
As a person with disabilities I am ashamed of this ADA hacker that is extourting great resturants. This is not a new money grab. In AZ there is a huge 2 person company that tries to get millions. As a person will disabilities I applaud any company that will talk to me and say "ok what is the problem and what can we do to correct this"
Pat Beaudry - I'm with yu Pat! I'm also disabled. If I see a problem I just ask nicely to see a manager & point it out. If they don't "get it", I've actually asked them to follow me into a bathroom & show them why it's a problem. Suddenly, eyes are opened & changes are made.
Anyone with a fierce sense of independence, wanting to "pay their own way" should be respected, especially with someone with more disadvantage than average. It could be argued that these scum have a "disability;" (saying that with a good deal of sarcasm Pat Beaudry) which is an inability to make an honest living. There is treatment for this, it's called jail
As an Australian, most of us don't think like this. We always suspect that people that bring up these kinds of cases really don't give a proverbial about accessibility issues for the disabled, only to make a quick buck
It's not the lawsuit itself but the circumstances under which it has filed. As some of those on the receiving end of these lawsuits have said, "if they'd come to me with their concerns first, I would have addressed them." In some cases the lawsuits were filed without even entering the premises. Lawyers are often despised in community because they often encourage their clients to continue with this kind of thing without even considering the moral consequences. "Sue first, ask questions later" is never the approach anyone should take
@@julie.1081 You are actually making a difference.
I’m a disabled veteran and I agree with talking to the business owner and pointing out issues he/she might not even be aware of. People just want to sued for anything. It’s shameful.
It's a whole industry, especially in California, frivolous ADA lawsuits.
It’s a get rich quick, scheme. And the attorney should be disbarred!
They do seem to be in it for the money, but if the restaurants just complied with the law there wouldn’t be any problems. Disabled people (and many other minority groups) have had to fight tooth and nail to get equal access, but it is the ambulance chasing lawyers that are the problem.
@@thomascarroll9556 Do you have any idea how hard it is to comply with all the laws. Its difficult and there are some cases where you have 2 separate government agencies with opposing rules for the same thing and citing the same reason. There was one place I heard of that had just that issue. To prevent the spread of disease and contaminants the door had to open in for one agency and out for the other. And that isn't even getting into laws that change. That bathroom could have easily have been in compliance when it was put in and out of compliance due to changes in the law.
@@olstar18 yes I do,
Man super kudos to that attorney for stepping in with integrity pro bono no less. I've seen alot of attorneys and judges act like and treat people like complete shit. This lady should be appointed judge in that state
There’s a guy in California that files thousands of these lawsuits and puts many restaurants out of business
There's more than one of these guys but I know who you're talking about. Some of his prior staff have been very vocal about his abuse to them. They shed a lot of light on what that guy does
I am pretty sure it is the same law group as well. Weiss
So can't these people get into trouble for filing false accusations? It puts tremendous pressure on these owners and businesses unnecessarily. In my mind, it should at least be a fine and mandatory jail time for filing false reports. It's also wasting the courts time.
@@movie0007 , these are civil lawsuits. If they were pursuing criminal cases against a business or calling the police, that is a waste of resources. But this is quite common. They file a suit and the small business’ insurance pays out without fighting or going to trial because it costs less. One person got caught having sued almost 400 small businesses, some of which they had never even visited.
Civil RICO
As a Florida resident, I will remember this and keep my eye out for the Weiss Law Group… AND I will not hesitate to mention this to my neighbors & friends.
Find out the lawyers, paralegals, etc working for Weiss and add them to that black list. It is all of them that should pay the price for bad faith practices of who they work for and none of them should be allowed to move onto the next firm or personal practice with out a reminder of their past misdeeds. These are service jobs and without clients to service, with their livelihood squashed, this will hopefully drive them away from practicing law.
We had a guy in our town try that ADA shakedown scam on several small businesses about 20 years ago.
He did get a few to pay then 1 fought back.
Scammer went to prison and had his property seized to pay back his victims.
I love a happy ending.
Best news I've heard in a long time.
The FBI needs to invigorate the “drive by” suers for extortion under the RICO law
Would be ok
They are too busy tracking down Trump voters.
@@newsnowadirondacksredux360 this is an old comment
@@qjtvaddict this is a current reality.
The FBI works for the Democratic Party now. This is a Republican representative working for fair & equitable systems. Ain’t gunna happen. The FBI doesn’t give any ishts. The FBI is basically the DNC Gestapo now.
A popular glamping campsite had to get rid of their custom Airstream trailers because they weren't AFA complaint even though they had ADA compliant tents. All the bathrooms and showers are ADA compliant. The Airstreams were for the elderly folks that had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. So if a handicap person can't use them no one can.
That doesn't make sense. Every room in a hotel isn't accessible.
Some disabled people are so bitter about the real struggles that life hands them, they don't care who suffers- with luck, we will all make it to old age, and we will need these 'elder accessible' amenities
@@zelousfoxtrot3390 that’s not true. These cases are brought by scam artists.
@@mymia731 no, not all of them.
@@norml.hugh-mann I'd wager most of them are, though.
If I was the owner of the restraint I would counter sue for hurassment and slander to get the money back from the damages done to reputation and loss of money from the time that they had to close.
I agree on the bill. It is needed to protect people from these extortionists.
But there is the problem. Even with that lawsuit, the guy will never pay. If they finally put into law that a lawsuit and judgement can go against any tax return you get, a lot of these idiots would stop.
You obviously have no clue what you are talking about Jacob. These people are not suing for compliance. This is what is called a "drive by lawsuit". It is simply a grab for money. People look for non compliance, and will sue you very every single one. Then they offer you a settlement to drop the case. This settlement is kept by the lawyer and plaintiff. The lawyer and complainant are often in cohorts with one another, and often scams involve lawyers or "ring leaders" paying others to report such violations and in return receive a kick back. There are even companies build around doing this, that's their sole purpose and they are funded by the lawsuits. This problem is rampant, abusing ADA laws for something as simple as having a mirror an inch too high, or a handicap sign a bit to beaten up.
This is why they dropped the case and didn't ask for any proof. They wanted the settlement, that's all they care about. Hiding behind ADA like little cowards, as it protects them from counter-suits because they are "protecting" the handicap. It isn't, this is just a scam, one of many.
If I was the owner I would have pushed the cripple into the river behind the restaurant and been done with it.
@@timmyy420
(lol)
ADA compliance should simply be a matter of STATE regulation and fines for non-compliance. Not civil suits.
Just because some form of technology exists that could be used to increase accessibility for the disabled doesn't mean the disabled have an unlimited entitlement to have access and the use of it.
In a perfect world, literally each and every door in a public place a would be automatic and operable with no effort. However the current ADA regulations only require "reduced opening force" in lieu of automatic operation. Therefore the owner of a facility would not be required to have automatic doors and if the facility had manually operated doors that opened with reduced force, that would be compliant with the ADA and it would not constitute a form of discrimination.
Furthermore, some forms of required ADA accommodations have significant costs, but the business is prohibited from charging a disabled person for the extra expense of providing those accommodations. This is a violation of the 14Th Amendment rights of the business because the government is taking property (remuneration from the cost of services that it is required to render) without just compensation.
@@kansasthunderman1 You don't know what you're talking about! Tell me what your credentials are before you spout. I can get an ADA ICC certified expert here to answer your misguided statements!
@@lepq30 Disabled people should be helped, but not catered to. This is life, not heaven.
Ada is a federal law. There should be a "available service" area exclusion, i.e. if wn 1 mile radius a comparable business with essentially similar product meets Ada requirements no suit or complaint sb allowed. Can you see the reasonableness of this exclusion.
ADA is Federal law, and is essentially part of The National Building Code. State and local codes cannot supersede National Code (but they can be stricter than National code).
Being part of the building code, a local or state inspector could have caught these violations and issued a citation to the business, with a deadline to correct the problem. In some cases, if the problem is corrected in a timely manner, no fine is issued.
The health dept could have also caught this.
Inspectors do more than give businesses and contractors a hard time. They also protect those businesses.
Seems like the man and lawyer were just hoping for an out of court settlement, when the restaurant was ready for trial, they didn't want to go through with it. Lots of companies just settle out of court to make problems go away, I'm glad this owner fought back.
Sadly Senate Democrats blocked the law that would have helped with this.
There ought to be a law that the more lawsuits you file the more expensive they get for filing fees. E.g., the first lawsuit might cost $1, then $2, $4, $8, $16, etc.
@@lukebouma9292: Federal or state Senate? What other unrelated pieces of legislation were wrapped up in that bill that was blocked? And what was the date on which the legislation was blocked?
@@lukebouma9292 Of course they did. They are lawyers- they are not going to pass something against their own.
@@briangraham5156 - See, Republicans have a majority in that state so any legislative problems must be the Democrats fault. /s
My guesstimate is that 80%+ ADA lawsuits are simple extortion.
Try 99.99%
I'd like to see a change to the law requiring proof of a bona fide effort to contact the business owners with a specific list of issues and provide a reasonable period of time to correct such issues, and that the plaintiff and lawyer are jointly and severally liable for the legal expenses of the defendant if a case is lost OR if the case is dropped. Furthermore, both the plaintiffs AND their attorneys should be required under oath to identify any other ADA litigation of which they have been a part. Legitimate complainants would have no problem with these restrictions, if their real intent is to improve access and not conduct a shakedown.
This sounds like the ADA version of a Patent-trolling.
Sure does.
Or copyright trolling.
What’s Patent Trolling?
@@LightStorm. Filing a lawsuit claiming that you have a patent or copyright on a product or service (when you actually don't).
Plaintiffs will either sue for just below the amount it would cost the defendant in legal fees to fight the case.
Or.
The plaintiff will offer to settle for an unusually low amount, just before going to trial.
The goal of these cases is revenue enhancement for the lawyers. Period.
Lawyers really need liability or they're going to start being held to account by vigilantes
And the greedy person making the claims!
As a disabled person, people filing BS ADA lawsuits piss me off…. There are businesses that ignore ADA and deserve lawsuits, these jerks using ADA to make money because they are too lazy to get a job are trash deserving JAIL….
You're not disabled if you don't understand these people are usually victims to the system. Why aren't physically disabled people able to get more financial help and can only make a certain amount of money to keep their benefits
@@wesley939 that is ignorant. We are in the age of technology, Stephen Hawking held down a full time teaching and research position, appeared as himself in several television shows, and wrote books…. With very FEW exceptions, anyone wanting to sit home and collect money instead of getting a job doesn’t belong in society and society doesn’t owe them anything….
Extortion? Sounds like these lawyers need to be put into wheelchairs themselves, permanently.
Lawyers are as much of scum bags as politicians.
@@maxhengstenberg908 Lawyer is far too often the larval stage of Politician.
So GREED is a disability...................
Or laziness. an inability to motivate themselves to GET A JOB!. Lazy arseholes, hope Karma bites them on their arse
As a person living with disabilities I’m very pleased to see this Texas representative make this legislation I don’t know if the timelines are right but I do know businesses should be given the time to comply with accessibility rules. I’m sorry to see frivolous lawsuits when the ADA is meant to deal with real problems.
I think a grace period sounds like a good idea.
Jacob D first off if you want to make an argument make it by attacking only his argument or opinion without insulting and attacking the person with the idea instead, it only hurts your argument . Second off this is very different than a landlord having a health hazard in your home. A home isn’t a choice it’s where you live everyday whereas Going to a restaurant is a choice and they can choose to come back after the changes have been made or never come back at all . For an entire business to close down just because toilet paper is 2 inches out of reach is absurd. It’s only fair to allow someone the chance to fix the problem and to legally obligate them to communicate civically. Also keep in mind this business has been inspected by the ADA and they never cited him for any of these claims
Also this law has already passed for the entire country
That would definitely prevent a lot of this
It's not easy, but the proper way to stop this is to lawyer up and fight the allegations and get them to drop the suit. If you just pay the extortionist they will be emboldened to do it again. In a copycat world it will breed more extortionists as it could be viewed as a viable business strategy.
On the other side of it, it's awesome that they found a lawyer willing to do it for free. Part of why this scam works is because typically defending yourself costs as much or more than it does to settle the suit, as disgusting as the offer to settle the suit even is. (Talk about mafia protection scams... what the fuck.)
I had a friend that had a construction company (he’s now retired), and he was threatened with a frivolous lawsuit, and he told them that he would fight them with every penny he had. He soon dropped the suit. Like with school bullies, it takes consistent standing up to such bullies to end it.
Or sometimes it might be easier to just follow the law and be ADA compliant
This has happen where I work at a few years ago. I work in the French Quarter of New Orleans and if you ever been to New Orleans most of the businesses is small mom and pops. Where I work we do everything possible to help anyone in need. It is these types of people who extort money that makes it hard on everyone.
What about the law of the extortion? The law firm try to extort cash money from a company. (Restaurant). Isn't there a law about that? I would file charges against the law firm that try to extort money from a business. If not the law firm then the person who hired the law firm. That sure would stop illegal claims Ada violations. The low life just tried to get some Fast Cash. Just like the looters in Houston Texas and the flood.
@Jacob D not extortion you say, smells like a load of crap to me! The Attorney even said $15,000 in this lawsuit goes away! What does that sound like to you and he never even mentioned the accessibility issue when asking for the money so if the restaurant owner would have paid the 15,000 the lawsuit would have been dropped without even fixing the issue so let's not play stupid here!
@Jacob D yes yes out-of-court settlement blah blah blah.. another word for legal extortion! Our court system is extremely corrupt and you can find many legalized criminal practices throughout our system! So don't give me your shifty mumbo jumbo, you can put lipstick on a pig but it is still a pig.
They are called "drive-by" lawsuits. They are about $$$. Good for this man.
The infamous Florida man and his greedy Florida lawyer thought they could shake up an out of town/out of state mom and pops but unfortunately didn't strike any luck for themselves so they'll continue their scam elsewhere. I bet the guy is a serial suer. The FBI needs to crack down on these people. The two of them caused an entire restaurant go shut down and 30 people to lose their jobs.
this guy is going to end up bothering the wrong person and will be 'disappeared'.
@@billgillette2859 facts!
I thought the first step to these type of issue was: “did you talk to the owner?” I guess not?
My hat is off to the attorney that helped this business. Sometime attorneys don’t get good coverage for things they do, in this case it was nice to hear
It's about accessibility but I want $15,000 too.
If you demand funds prior to a request to remedy accessibility, that is extortion
Hey, Most legislators ARE Lawyers... so don't expect them to do anything to stop the rain.
the employees should sue the crippled guy.
Don’t ever settle in this situation. These business need to fight like hell.
And I’m sure when these laws are being passed, the possibility of such frivolous suits was raised and dismissed as an imaginary problem.
What I would've done: 1) File a counter lawsuit to re-coup loss business and damage to reputation. 2) File a complaint against the lawyer and law firm to revoke their law license. (Breach of ethics.) 3) File a restraining order against the "customer", lawyer and all members of the law firm from ever entering my business again.
Disabled people that do this are pure scum bags. The disabled man probably gets just enough from social security and needs extra money and goes to businesses they think can't afford to go to court
The disabled man in this case is fictitious. The law firm made him up.
You do realize social security disability is less than $800 a month, right? And you can't have more than $2k in your bank account at ANY point or you lose it and all other resources tied to you having it.
She is right, it was extortion. This has nothing to do with compliance. Once they realised it was going to court they bailed. Since they started the whole proceedings they should have to pay every dime for wasting everyone's time all the way down to the court clerk.
thst is hard for a defendant to do, he has to sue the other party,
Great Attorney! She needs to start a class action lawsuit. Best wishes!
Why not show the person that sued? These people need exposed.
Law being proposed should have already been established. Can’t anyone in Government think ahead
No.
bill sounds great! shouldn't it have been included in the original law to begin with? sounds like it should've been. like most good laws they open people to prosecution by unscrupulous lawyers and law enforcement.
I still can't get past the idea that he got an attorney to work for free ;-)
Good for her.
Shameful. Absolutely shameful putting these business owners through such garbage. Bless that lawyer for coming to their aid.
Well all I gotta say is this is what happens when you get sue happy everyone is open season??
there needs to be CONSEQUENCES to the thugs who initiated this entire mess
I’m a disabled person in the U.K. as is my wife and I work as the lead advisor at a DPO (Disabled Peoples Organisation). I passionately believe in equality and everyone’s right of equal access which is really difficult to define. What might aid one person could make life more difficult for another. It should be about taking reasonable steps to give equal access to everyone and not be about being a 'get rich quick scheme' for anyone. The people who take out law suits are damaging society for others with disabilities. That restaurant looked like the sort of place people with mental health issues, including veterans with PTSD, might go for some peace of mind. What would they have done for that month it was closed or if it had to close down permanently? What about the elderly disabled whose only social might be meeting friends there once a week? Talking things over is the sensible caring attitude. Most complaints that come to me are sorted with a single phone call and maybe a free meal graciously offered to my clients.
Blackmail doesn't work too well.
Good for this owner. Businesses need to stand up to these criminal bullies.
Time to go after the law licences of attorneys behind these suits when plaintiffs are serial filers.
Yeah, they dropped it when they realized THEY were being investigated.
Good, you love to see justice be served
I wonder how many scammers filed a lawsuit after watching this… shame!!
Sue him back and put him in jail for harassment.
As a disabled veteran people that abuse the ADA like this are the true dredges of humanity.
Seems like we need to put a stop to this injustice.
Go after the person them self.
This is a big scare tactic across the board - I'm a website developer and we get constant questions about this from clients. Everyone's worried about their website not being accessible, but there aren't any specifics about what guidelines need to be followed. I've even read that the website only matters if the business cannot be accessed directly otherwise - like Domino's Pizza having an online order form that wasn't ADA friendly and no storefront for disabled people to visit, so they were effectively denying disabled people access to that store and their services. Most of the time a website is just more difficult to use but almost never completely inaccessible.
That sounds like extortion
Thank God in Michigan we have no obligation to offer public bathrooms
These lawyer groups need to be exposed. People need to go after them.
I was a municipal building inspector. Unless the structure or situation presented a direct health or physical threat the usual action was a notice of correction. Repeated violations could be met with fines and chromic violations might result in mandated shutdown. The only time I ever saw a shutdown was if the structure suffered serious physical damage. But we lie an age of litigation so anyone can file a law suit.
READ THE ADA, the requirements are ridiculous.
Put these Layers and the guy that sued in Jail !!!!!!! It is Extortion !!!!!!
This is big in Kalifornia, a friend of mine was extorted for $20,000 when the slope rise of the ramp to her store was 3 degrees off, insane!
That is happening now in California. Government must to stop this malicious practice and work with the business owners to comply with ADA law to prevent people like this abuse of that.
Even will be when anyone involved gets disbarred....and jailed for contempt of the courts
I wish you had photos of these people who bring these types of cases.
If the charges are dropped the lawyer and plaintiff should pay the costs
The activist lawyers who file these frivolous lawsuits must be disbarred and imprisoned.
Unlike other building codes, the ADA requirements were established by legislators (lawyers) and the remedy is through lawsuits, claiming "Discrimination!" rather than through notification of needed corrections (as is the case with other building codes.)
At the very least, the attorney who agreed to take the suit for the plaintiff needs to have a complaint filed against him with the state Bar Association.
I recall several years ago a serial lawsuit filer that all of a sudden just disappeared.
I would counter sue for lost business and income
People should counter sue them and bring them to justice
So much in the government is about punishing people for violating regulations instead of helping people to comply.
I looked into this while I was thinking about opening a business. I found info that gave me chills.
There are people who search and destroy based on minor bullshit. As shown here, sign height, TP roll height, even very hard to change issues like narrow hallways in concrete buildings.
It seems to be, "pay up and fix it." No time given to address problems.
They should have countersued and forced the Florida lawyer to litigate the case in Colorado.
I'm pretty sure these lawsuits are only about extortion. I want to see repairs made. For the record, I'm also disabled. I don't act this way.
I am thankful for honest lawyer, Patterson... but why no reparations?
If it's about accessibility, bring the problem to their attention; while they are filing lawsuits, the issue still exist! Greed!
I’m from North Florida and I do apologize for the “Florida Man”. Pure and simple extortion.
That bill must not have passed because I keep hearing about cases like this.
One additional way to stop these suits would be to do this - if a suit against someone is filed, and then offered to be dropped if they settled for $XX, they will be charged with blackmail.
Bar association needs to investigate Santiago's attorney.
Another case of a shakedown for cash.
Any company who just wants to sue innocent people and make a whole lot of money over nothing should be shut down and remain shut down forever.
This like when someone put a service dog vest to a bark dog just because they can take their dog to a job fair.
Finally some of the good guys win!
Disgusting, and it is taking so long for someone to act, way to go Texas. I'm going to contact my senator here in Fla., to see if we have something in the works.
These lawyers should be disbarred.
Good for you. Good Luck.
kudos to denver 7 for reporting diligently on this disgusting scam.
Great idea rep Poe
Yep, the motive makes no sense.
Targeting dozens and dozens of businesses.
It’s about the money and this disabled guy is targeting the wrong people. He has issues he has to resolve with counseling and needs Anger Management counseling.
He should just expire
And people wonder why lawyers are HATED.
I was disabled and I did not expect the world to bow down and change for me. I grew stronger to overcome my disability. This world is so weak .
Wow! That lawyer sounds like a shyster.
Extortionist are some of the lowest of mankind. I've had to deal with extortion a couple times but I stood my ground.
Sue him straight to the poorhouse.
I hope they file a counter lawsuit for fraud