| pheller |
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Reply with quote | #1 |
Posted from North County Times
NORTH COUNTY ---- The lawyer who raised hackles a year ago when he sued dozens of Julian businesses over lack of access for the disabled brought his fight to Solana Beach on Thursday.
A lawsuit targeting Cole's Carpets in the Cedros Design District is one of 300 that attorney Theodore Pinnock says he has filed since his self-dubbed "Julian Experiment" made headlines.
Pinnock, who himself has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, is well-known for his many lawsuits targeting businesses over disability access issues. Pinnock argues in the new lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court, that wheelchair-using visitors to the Solana Beach location of Cole's Carpets are greeted by steps at the entrance, with no ramp or lift to help them enter the store.
Attorney David Peters, who has battled Pinnock many times in court, is representing Coles in a suit Pinnock filed earlier this year that challenges access issues in another Coles location in San Diego. Peters said he'd not yet seen the suit filed Thursday targeting the Solana Beach location, but said his client is still fighting the first suit.
Pinnock's latest lawsuit comes a year after he made headlines for sending letters to 67 businesses in the mountain hamlet of Julian, demanding that store owners and landlords make their shops accessible to the disabled ---- and pay up to the tune of $200,000 ---- or he would take them to court for violating federal civil rights laws guaranteeing access.
Business owners and others balked, calling Pinnock's notice letters a shakedown tactic to make money.
The ire led Pinnock to drop his practice of sending out the notice letters ---- which he said actually helped prevent lawsuits by seeking settlements before the issue landed in court ---- and instead would take his complaints straight to court.
Under the law, businesses can be fined for $4,000 for each violation of access, payable to the person who filed the discrimination claim.
In the year that has passed since the "Julian Experiment," Pinnock said, he has filed more than 300 access lawsuits in federal court ---- nearly eight times the number of lawsuits he filed in all of 2005.
Before 2005, Pinnock said, he averaged about 100 lawsuits a year.
Pinnock has repeatedly said that lawsuits such as those he files are necessary to get businesses to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act, a 16-year-old federal civil rights law guaranteeing access for the disabled.
Many of Pinnock's critics argue that the issue of access would be better served if Pinnock would simply notify businesses of violations ---- and gave store owners time to make fixes before filing suit.
Business owners in Julian have called Pinnock's negotiating tactics "shakedowns."
In a statement e-mailed to the North County Times on Thursday afternoon, Pinnock took issue with that characterization, and argued he should not be targeted for trying to get payment for his time.
"It would be insane to say a divorce lawyer should not make money on a couple's unhappiness," Pinnock's e-mail stated. "It would be ridiculous to say a bankruptcy attorney should not charge a person going bankrupt. ... However, disability rights lawyers and disability plaintiffs are expected to seek compliance only. There is a crisis in this country, but it is not what the news is reporting."
Attorney Peters ---- who is also representing many of the targeted Julian businesses ---- said the suits were more about money than access.
"When you make a business out of being discriminated against, you reach a point where there has to be enough discrimination each month to pay your bills."
In September, one of the Julian business owners took his concerns about Pinnock's lawsuit to Washington to testify before a congressional subcommittee looking into disability access laws.
At the time, U.S. Rep Darrell Issa, R-Vista, who recommended that Harry Horner testify for the subcommittee, said he'd like to see legislation passed that would give business owners a grace period to fix the problems if someone complains ---- before the complaint ends up as a lawsuit.
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| Steve |
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Reply with quote | #2 |
This guy sounds like a prick* that abuses the laws for monetary gain. If he was a true crusader he would inform business owners of changes that they need to make that they are most likely unaware of. he certainly uses his own disabilities for his advantage. He may be disabled but he is definately 100% a bottom feeding lawyer. |
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| Chris |
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Reply with quote | #3 |
I wish there were more of these "pricks" as you call him because too many places ignore ADA laws! I am in a wheelchair living in Arkansas and I find ADA violations everywhere here, large stores and government buildings alike but none of the lawyers around here want to do anything about it yet. If all these places would just fix what they should (and yes I have brought the violations to the attention of the owners) then there would be no need for lawyers. But currently there is such a lack of respect for the disabled that it is disgusting. This is segregation if you want to get down to it!
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| Philippe |
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Reply with quote | #4 |
Chris, you bring up a good point. It would not take much for business to be accessible.
We perform access evaluations for business owners who want to achieve compliance. There are several problems with the issue of ADA lawsuits. Let's start with a lack of information. Most business owners believe that if they got a permit from their local gov't, they "must" be OK. We hear that all the time. The local building departments, or the state should be more proactive telling people to get compliant. They could do this with the newsletters they send when collecting sales taxes.
I think most of the animosity about drive-by lawsuits is over the rediculous violations that cause a business owner to get sued. There are dozens of guys and gals who drive around and seek out minor violations such as a bathroom sign that is 1/2 inch out of place or a counter that is 1/8 inch too high.
The Law favors those who bring these lawsuits by denying a defendant's ability to collect attorney's fees if they successfully defend themselves. The law is very vague about what has to be done in a small building that is say, 50 years old. What may be assumed reasonable to one person may not be to another. So if a business owner gets sued over minor violations, defending themselves in court is pointless. So they end up settling out of court. It is the lesser or two evils.
In all of the cases we have worked on, the plaintiff *never* goes back to see if the improvements are made. They are just in it for the easy money.
Keep up the good work.
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| Chris |
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Reply with quote | #5 |
I know there are scum everywhere that is just out for a quick buck, but if the Small Business Association would spread the word better and help out these small businesses then there would be less lawsuits for the lawyers to grab up money. Being accessible will also help promote a friendly shopping environment, I do not shop where I can not get in. With the growing number of people that are wheelchair bound or the elderly using scooters it only makes sense to want them in your stores spending their money. Dollar General thinks that the minimum isle width is 28", where they got that idea I do not know but that is what their lawyers are telling the store managers. Dillards store thinks that the isle definition only applies to the main isle that goes around the store, not the runoff isles where their products are at (I guess wheelchair users are only suppose to shop at the end of the isles in their stores). My wheelchair is under 32" wide, if I can not get down an isle I know there is something wrong and that is when I say something. All isles need to be 36" wide and not have clutter in the way. I thank you for your website and wish there were more like it arcoss the country (If you want to expand to Arkansas inspections let me know).
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