Disability Access News

9:30am Sunday 14th December 2008
By Ali Dent »

A DISABLED pensioner is calling on developers in Yate to make public buildings and pathways more accessible.

Betty Billingham, 76, bought an electric scooter six months ago so she could be more independent but she has been left out in the cold on a number of occasions.

"Outside my doctors’ surgery in Abbotswood I cannot get off the pavement because there is no dropped kerb," she said.

"So I have to get off my scooter and push it into the road. There is also a problem on Link Road, where the new traffic lights have been installed, because the road has been hollowed out too much and when it rains huge ponds form in the road.

"I cannot cross because the motor on my scooter would be submerged."

Mrs Billingham and her husband Peter, 79, moved to Finch Road in Chipping Sodbury 17 years ago. The couple chose the area after living in South Africa because Yate Shopping Centre seemed so accessible.

Mrs Billingham, vice-chairman of Sodbury and Yate Photographic Club, had been in a wheelchair since 1985.

"Generally the pavements are very good around here and I can get as far out as Old Sodbury on my own," said Mrs Billingham, who was born in Sudan.

"But I cannot get into Chipping Sodbury Post Office because there is no ramp.

"And when I tried to go to the Pop Inn café in the shopping centre I could not get in.

"The café was designed especially for the over 50s and it is the one place you would think disabled people had been considered."

Mrs Billingham has suffered from spinal and hip problems for decades and can only walk very short distances.

"I just want to raise awareness about these problems," she said.

"With all the building work going on in Yate Shopping Centre, the new health centre, the library and the leisure centre, I just want to make sure the same faux pas are not going to be made."

She said it would be very difficult to rectify any mistakes once the building projects were completed.

"I think a few places where there are problems should be pointed out and disabled people like me should be consulted on these big projects."

Yate town councillor and chairman of the council’s finance committee Martin Monk said he was aware of the problems disabled customers face at the Pop Inn café, which the council runs.

He said an electric door had been discussed at several meetings.

"It is like everything else," he said. "It is a question of balancing the books.

"An electric door would cost £8,000 but there are so many schemes which need financing.

"We are looking at it and we will consider it again."

Mrs Billingham has contacted Northavon MP Steve Webb to raise awareness of her calls for improved access.

Mr Webb said: "Unless you have firsthand experience you cannot imagine what the problems are likely to be and even the best-willed public body in the world will unintentionally exclude people.

"Mrs Billingham is approaching this in a very constructive way and I hope the PCT and other bodies will engage with her and others for the benefit of everyone."

Filings Occur Before State Law Takes Effect

By HEATHER CHAMBERS
San Diego Business Journal Staff

Small-business owners in the East County have become the subject of the latest round of lawsuits claiming that people with disabilities were denied access.

Theodore Pinnock, an attorney who has filed more than 1,000 lawsuits in San Diego’s federal courts, is attached to the most recent round of civil actions against the communities of Lakeside, Lemon Grove, El Cajon and Santee.

Since September, the law firm of Pinnock and Wakefield has filed at least 27 Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuits in East County on behalf of plaintiff Noni Gotti, who, according to the lawsuits, suffers from “physical impairments of cervical back disease.”

Seven of those were filed on a single day — Oct. 14 — against several El Cajon and Lemon Grove business owners, including a heating, ventilation and air conditioning company, a roofing company and glass contractor.

Among the list of reasons for denied access were physical barriers, such as aisles that prevented wheelchair access, and a lack of handicapped parking spaces and signage.

One East County business operator, who asked to remain anonymous, said the lawsuit was “clearly a drive-by.”

Another East County business owner said a lawsuit brought against his business was dropped after proving that the privately run business had no public access and required security clearance to enter.

“I don’t think it’s one (Pinnock) could’ve won,” he said.

State Law Pending

The East County lawsuits come less than a month before a new state law takes effect that is designed to curb ADA litigation. Signed into federal law in 1990, the ADA was intended to ensure access to people with disabilities and to prohibit discrimination.

Among other provisions, the new law puts a stop to lawsuits alleging ADA violations for 90 days for businesses that hire a specially trained local building inspector to find problems and recommend fixes. If the inspector discovers any violations, business owners must pay the plaintiff’s damages and pay workers to fix the problem. In the past, business owners who were sued said they were forced to deal with the lawsuits immediately, leaving little or no time to focus on their business.

“I think that, really, with the new law kicking in, this is the last big hoorah,” said Lorie Zapf, president of the San Diego Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse.

Zapf said her office has received phone calls from business owners and chambers of commerce in response to the newest wave of litigation. “I’m getting a lot of phone calls from various people, and I can’t help them once they’re sued,” Zapf said.

Thursday, January 01, 2009, 15:00
Kent & Sussex Courier

THE TUNBRIDGE Wells Area Access Group is celebrating after one of its 10-year campaigns for accessible lifts has paid off and two more have moved a step closer.

Tunbridge Wells train station, on Mount Pleasant Road, will have a lift installed ready to be operational by the summer.

The Adult Education Centre, on Monson Road, and the town's library, museum and art gallery, on Civic Way, are likely to undergo work to make them more accessible.

Chairman of the access group Michael Coggles described the news as "a real Christmas present for everybody in Tunbridge Wells".

He added: "It is something we have all wanted and been campaigning for for 10 years."

Southeastern Trains said designs had been drawn up and the tender process to supply and install a suitable lift was currently under way.

It is expected to cost £200,000 and will utilise the existing lift shaft on platform two providing access to street level.

Mr Coggles said: "We are overjoyed we are getting the lift, not just for us but mothers with young children and the elderly. It will benefit everybody.

"At the moment a wheelchair-bound person would have go down a ramp and press a bell for staff to let you on to the platform.

"Disabled people here up to now, on a train from London, would have to get off at Tonbridge station – where they have a lift – and be driven to Tunbridge Wells by a vehicle provided by Southeastern.

"The lift will make everybody's lives easier."

A feasibility study is being carried out at the library for installing both the lift and disabled toilets, and Kent County Council has said investigations for the lift at the adult education centre were on-going.

Mr Coggles added: "New lifts in these important buildings will mean better facilities and a huge improvement for everybody.

"At the moment at the library you can only get to the ground floor. With a new lift the building will be available to everybody.

Portfolio holder for safer and stronger communities, Cllr James Scholes said: "We have been working on this project behind the scenes for a long time with Kent County Council.

"Improvements to enable more people to access to the museum, art gallery and library building were originally anticipated to form part of a larger redevelopment of the site, part-financed by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

"Unfortunately the bid for funding was unsuccessful. However, work to provide a lift and accessible toilets continues."

By Alison Stateman / Los Angeles Monday, Dec. 29, 2008

Jarek Molski, 38, is a bit of a legend in legal circles. Disabled in a 1985 motorcycle accident that left him a paraplegic, he has filed 400 lawsuits against businesses under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), alleging access violations. He was dubbed a "hit-and-run plaintiff" in 2004 by a federal judge and barred from filing any more lawsuits. Molski, of course, appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which finally rejected his case on Nov. 17 without comment. Molski must now petition the Central District Court of California and all state courts first before filing any new lawsuits. (See the top 10 underreported stories of 2008.)

Molski may sound extreme, but he is far from the only plaintiff who has filed hundreds of lawsuits under the ADA in California. A significant number of people who sue under the ADA have legitimate grievances and appear to be motivated by a sincere desire for access rather than monetary gain. However, according to David Warren Peters, CEO and general counsel of Lawyers Against Lawsuit Abuse, a small group of opportunists and select law firms are responsible for a huge percentage of the lawsuits. "I've seen plaintiffs that make Jarek Molski look like a Cub Scout," says Peters, whose San Diego–based firm represents and consults businesses and individuals accused of ADA noncompliance across the state and country. One plaintiff, he says, has filed more than 1,000 ADA accessibility suits alone.

California, along with Hawaii, Illinois and Florida, is a particular hotbed for ADA lawsuits and the law firms that bring them to court. "California may be the worst in the country," says Peters, citing several factors for potential abuse, chief among them two California statutes that provide $1,000 or $4,000 in minimum damages, plus attorney fees, per each successful claimant. Many claimants multiply these damage amounts by the number of conditions they observe at a property. This frequently results in $50,000 or more in damage demands, says Peters. Some serial claimants will file for damages against dozens of businesses they say they have visited on the same day or for repeated visits to an establishment.

"Opportunists see this as a great way to make $12,000 a day or more just by eating out," says Peters. "Easy money with the help of the courts is bound to attract opportunists." Peters adds that a surprisingly large number of suits are filed by individuals with significant prior criminal history. "It's hard enough to get a job if you have a criminal record. It's probably harder if you have one and are in a wheelchair. These lawsuits offer an unbelievable amount of money."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Molski's attorney, Thomas Frankovich, says his client and the dozen or so serial ADA plaintiffs his firm has represented are activists and crusaders. Frankovich dubbed Molski (who does not have a criminal record) "the sheriff" because "he started going into town to clean it up." Frankovich says he has filed 223 ADA lawsuits on behalf of Molski. (Molski used other attorneys to file his other suits.) Frankovich says Molski began suing only after his letters to offending businesses were ignored. (Molski was out of the country and couldn't be reached for comment.) Says Frankovich: "Letters don't work. Only the hammer of litigation gets them to do what they need."

But Frankovich himself is being charged by the state bar of California on three counts of misconduct, stemming from ADA lawsuits he filed on behalf of Molski. One count alleges that Frankovich's litigation strategy amounted to a "scheme to extort money from defendants." Says Frankovich of the charge: "It's an absolute fabrication based on absolutely no supportive facts. Using the fact that he filed 223 lawsuits as evidence of a scheme is absurd. His rights were violated in 223 cases where significant architectural barriers existed."

The flood of potentially frivolous lawsuits, many directed at small businesses of less than 1,000 square feet, can have a profound effect on the local economy. Fearing the costs of a lengthy legal battle, many small-business owners decide to settle with plaintiffs for thousands of dollars. Some can't absorb the losses and end up shuttering their businesses.

Part of the problem, Peters says, is that California has higher standards than the federal ADA mandates, leading some business owners to mistakenly believe they are in compliance when they are not. The federal standard requires businesses to do what is readily achievable — that which can be carried out without much difficulty or expense, determined by practicality and the financial resources of the individual business. In California the standard is any discrimination or distinction in the way a business provides goods or services to the able-bodied and disabled. "If you fully comply with the ADA — and only with the ADA — in California, you can still be sued," says Peters. "Only 2% of buildings are compliant in California since the ADA guidelines went into effect."

In addition, inaccurate information about disabled access standards can leave even well-meaning business owners, who have had their premises inspected, vulnerable. Building inspectors and architects are sometimes misinformed about state compliance standards. In some cases, state and federal regulations are in direct conflict. For instance, California state regulations require a curb ramp to have a beveled lip, while federal regulations say the transition from ramps to walks, gutters or streets should be flush and free of abrupt changes. A new state law, S.B. 1608, approved by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and which goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2009, may only complicate the issue by creating a special class of "qualified defendants" (who have opted to be officially certified) who can avoid additional damages and legal expenses.

Andrew Imparato, president and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities, says his organization's biggest concern is that when the lawsuits are filed, a settlement may be reached, but the access issue is not addressed. "We'd like to see federal judges in a jurisdiction where lots of cases are being filed looking at the phenomenon and trying to work on a solution that results in improvements in accessibility," says Imparato, "and not lining the pockets of plaintiffs or boutique law firms that make a business out of it."