Facilities that violate the ada generally aren t penalized unless a lawsuit or complaint is filed.
Ada pool lift lawsuit.
Amy kjose anderson january 24 2017.
A recent 60 minutes episode examined the growing litany of lawsuits that use the americans with disabilities act ada to demand payment from small businesses.
In some cases these lawsuits are collected from the comfort of the attorney s car or even couch driving by handicapped parking spots to assess violations or using google earth to find motels without accessible pool lifts for the disabled.
The bad news is pool lifts have spawned an unforeseen and aggressive legal subculture of attorneys and plaintiffs who are bringing a barrage of lawsuits against hotel owners.
The plaintiff theresa brooke has filed over 70 ada lawsuits against southern california hotels in the past 6 weeks every single one of which in boilerplate fashion alleges ada violations based on inaccessible hotel pools and spas.
31 2013 most public pools and spas must have a means of disabled access with larger vessels needing two methods.
Brooke s lawsuit sought a court order requiring the facility to make all its pool facilities ada compliant as well as attorney fees legal costs and damages of at least 12 500.
Four of the lawsuits were filed on june 14 in federal court in minneapolis and a fifth in.
If a wheelchair bound person checks into or tries to check into a hotel and discovers no lift at the pool they have suffered a harm according to the ada.
Some people just use google to look at your pool and see there s no lift said marty orlick chair of the ada compliance and defense group at san francisco law firm jeffer mangels butler mitchell.
She claims that these hotels violated the 2010 ada standards because they fail to provide permanent pool lifts at either or both the pool and spa.
In each case brooke alleges she called the hotels to inquire whether the pool or jacuzzi had a lift or other means of access for disabled persons and the representative informed her that it.
At that time we predicted that there could be a 40 increase in the number of lawsuits filed in 2014 based on 6 seyfarth s minh vu provides insight into pool lifts suits for hotel news now.
Because lifts are seen by many as the most practical and least expensive solution they have been the most popular.
If there was a pool lift plaintiff claims she would stay at the hotel in the future.
In august 2014 we reported that the number of ada title iii lawsuits filed against public accommodations rose by nearly 9 in 2013 over 2012.
