A law designed to reduce the number of abusive lawsuits under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act while also improving compliance with important access laws has yet to impact the number of ADA lawsuits filed, according to The Recorder legal newspaper's Cheryl Miller.
As Miller noted, attorneys on both sides of the issue say the number of lawsuits brought under state and federal disability access laws has not dropped.
However, one ADA defense specialist who helped draft the law, Senate Bill 1608, said it has cut the amount of damages plaintiffs are seeking, if not the number of claims they file.
"I have fewer clients coming to me saying, 'I'm going to go out of business, I'm going bankrupt, I'm going to have to dip into my home equity,'" said San Diego attorney David Warren Peters, the CEO and general counsel of Lawyers Against Lawsuit Abuse. Plaintiffs "can no longer make these very large demands. All things considered, that's a great improvement."
The law, which CJAC supported, created access specialists who can inspect businesses for access violations. Business owners can then display signs indicating their properties have been inspected, which allows them to ask a court for a 90-day stay of litigation if targeted for an access violation.
Also, statutory damages are now tied to the number of times a plaintiff was denied access, not to the number of violations found on the site.
One problem with SB 1608, Miller wrote, is that many ADA lawsuits are brought in federal court, where the reach of the law is unclear.
"It's a heyday [for plaintiffs] in this economy," said Catherine Corfee, a Carmichael attorney who defends businesses sued for access violations. "They know nobody can afford to challenge them."
Several business owners sued under the ADA have talked to CJAC about the lawsuit and its effect on their business. View their stories at www.cjac.org/problem.