Overlawyered » ADA filing mills http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:22:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 “ADA lawsuits questioned after serial plaintiff claiming emphysema caught on tape hiking” http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/ada-lawsuits-questioned-after-serial-plaintiff-claiming-emphysema-caught-on-tape-hiking/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/ada-lawsuits-questioned-after-serial-plaintiff-claiming-emphysema-caught-on-tape-hiking/#comments Tue, 06 Sep 2011 14:18:47 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24439 James Farkus Cohan, who’s sued at least 161 businesses under California’s liberal version of the ADA as a disabled plaintiff, says he has end-stage emphysema, but a KABC investigation found him rather spry. Cohan’s other businesses, the station reports, include procurement of human organs for transplant. Lawmakers in Sacramento this year refused business pleas to tighten standards for filing the lucrative suits, which extract millions annually [via Lowering the Bar and Amy Alkon]

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/09/ada-lawsuits-questioned-after-serial-plaintiff-claiming-emphysema-caught-on-tape-hiking/feed/ 7 California: “Lawmakers kill fix for disability access suits” http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/california-lawmakers-kill-fix-for-disability-access-suits/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/california-lawmakers-kill-fix-for-disability-access-suits/#comments Thu, 04 Aug 2011 05:25:53 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24138 Democrats in Sacramento are unswayed by continuing reports that Unruh Act complaint mills are extracting millions from the state’s small businesses on accessibility claims, and throttle a bill that would require notice and a chance to fix problems before suing. [Legal Pad, The Recorder, CJAC] Opponents of the fix include the trial-lawyers’ lobby, Consumer Attorneys of California. Background here; the perennially doomed equivalent bill in the U.S. Congress is discussed here. I discussed the issue on the John Stossel show last year.

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/california-lawmakers-kill-fix-for-disability-access-suits/feed/ 4 “Disabled man puts the squeeze on [NYC] businesses with handicap lawsuits” http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/disabled-man-puts-the-squeeze-on-nyc-businesses-with-handicap-lawsuits/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/disabled-man-puts-the-squeeze-on-nyc-businesses-with-handicap-lawsuits/#comments Wed, 08 Jun 2011 05:06:48 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23289 The New York Post profiles prolific ADA filer Zoltan Hirsch, who has targeted at least 87 businesses, and his lawyer, Bradley Weitz. “[Hirsch] targeted a pedicure station at the Red & White Spa in SoHo — even though he has no feet.”

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/disabled-man-puts-the-squeeze-on-nyc-businesses-with-handicap-lawsuits/feed/ 3 Digging for ADA gold http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/digging-for-ada-gold/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/digging-for-ada-gold/#comments Wed, 11 May 2011 05:05:14 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22898 Well-known serial ADA litigant George Louie has hit the California Gold Rush country [CJAC] Not that far away: “Serial ADA filer targets popular Davis burger joint” [same, Scott Johnson]

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/digging-for-ada-gold/feed/ 1 Sidewalks, ADA suits, and attorneys’ fees http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/sidewalks-ada-suits-and-attorneys-fees/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/sidewalks-ada-suits-and-attorneys-fees/#comments Thu, 21 Apr 2011 05:28:30 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22640 According to Todd Roberson at CJAC, a federal court’s ruling in a 14-year dispute over street curbs and sidewalks in Riverside, California has headed off a potential “avalanche of lawsuits.” U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner ruled the complainant in the case “had failed to demonstrate that Riverside as a whole is inaccessible to the disabled.”

Riverside’s City Attorney, Greg Priamos, was quoted in the Daily Journal saying the suit was “about money, not accessibility…The only hangup to a settlement earlier in the case was the amount of attorney’s fees. I’m offended by that.”

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/sidewalks-ada-suits-and-attorneys-fees/feed/ 1 Plaintiff drops Pennsylvania ADA complaints http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/plaintiff-drops-pennsylvania-ada-complaints/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/plaintiff-drops-pennsylvania-ada-complaints/#comments Fri, 08 Apr 2011 05:07:13 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22417 After questions are raised about the timing of her claimed visits, a serial ADA plaintiff — represented by a law firm we’ve had occasion to mention before, Schwartz Zweben & Associates — drops complaints against several restaurants and other small businesses in Pennsylvania [Sunbury Item]

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/plaintiff-drops-pennsylvania-ada-complaints/feed/ 1 Another serial ADA complainant, another closed restaurant http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/another-serial-ada-complainant-another-closed-restaurant/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/another-serial-ada-complainant-another-closed-restaurant/#comments Wed, 30 Mar 2011 05:07:06 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22246 Donner Lake Kitchen, a popular family-owned restaurant in rural Truckee, Calif. is closing its doors following a legal battle with attorney Scott Johnson, who is said to have filed “countless” complaints of lack of handicap accessibility at California businesses. The owner estimates that $20,000-$60,000 in repairs and upgrades would have been needed to bring the dining establishment into ADA compliance. [Sierra Sun via CJAC]

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/another-serial-ada-complainant-another-closed-restaurant/feed/ 10 “Grace Period for ADA Modifications Proposed in Congress” http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/grace-period-for-ada-modifications-proposed-in-congress/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/grace-period-for-ada-modifications-proposed-in-congress/#comments Fri, 25 Mar 2011 14:22:01 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22141 Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) has reintroduced the ADA Notification Act, which “would provide businesses accused of an ADA violation with a 90-day grace period to make necessary modifications.” That would, among other effects, cut down on some opportunistic suit-filing that is aimed at the generating of attorneys’ fee entitlements. It is not entirely clear what effect it would have in states (like California itself) where lawyers prefer to sue under state laws that are more pro-plaintiff than the ADA itself. [East County Magazine via CJAC]

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/grace-period-for-ada-modifications-proposed-in-congress/feed/ 0 December 16 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2010/12/december-16-roundup-3/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/12/december-16-roundup-3/#comments Thu, 16 Dec 2010 05:22:16 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=20649
  • Judge Kozinski blasts prosecution of McAfee exec Probhat Goyal [Ribstein, Greenfield; related on federal overcriminalization, Rittgers/Cato]
  • “If only laws were like sausages” [Robert Pear, NY Times]
  • “Public Radio Looks at California ADA Lawsuits” [Frith, CJAC on "This American Life," Thomas Mundy and Morse Mehrban]
  • Guitar maker described as “litigation-addled”: “Gibson continues its IP-based business plan” [Coleman]
  • Judge who heard Madison County, Ill. asbestos docket retires, is picked by lawyers as trustee of asbestos bankruptcy trust [Chamber-backed MC Record]
  • Ted Frank’s Center for Class Action Fairness objects to Classmates.com class action settlement [CCAF, more, yet more]
  • New Labor Department regs could chill management speech to workforce [Russ Brown, Open Market]
  • Too bad there weren’t legal blogs around in 2000, some light might have been shed on Bush v Gore [Legal Blog Watch, Ann Althouse] Hey wait a minute [ten years ago on Overlawyered]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/12/december-16-roundup-3/feed/ 0     “This American Life” on California ADA mills http://overlawyered.com/2010/10/this-american-life-on-california-ada-mills/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/10/this-american-life-on-california-ada-mills/#comments Sat, 02 Oct 2010 16:56:54 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=19512 It covers them in “Act 3″ of a show on “Crybabies”.

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