# Florida lawmakers pass law aimed at crippling ADA lawsuit abuse



## mark handler (May 8, 2017)

Florida lawmakers pass law aimed at crippling ADA lawsuit abuse
Businesses can hire "qualified expert"
http://www.wptv.com/news/local-news...kers-pass-law-aimed-at-crippling-ada-lawsuits
Florida lawmakers on both sides of the aisle this week agreed:  it's time to stop ADA abuse in Florida.  As result, a bill that would help Florida business owners fight unnecessary ADA lawsuits recently swept through both the House and Senate unanimously.  
The legislation, which still needs to be signed by the Governor, is Florida's most recent attempt to stop what critics have described as a movement less about helping the disabled and more about cashing in on the Americans with Disabilities Act. 
The bill gives business owners the ability to fight back lawsuits by allowing them to voluntarily hire a qualified ADA expert. That expert would create a remediation plan to fix any ADA violations within a reasonable period of time.  In the event a business owner is sued for an ADA violation, the business owner could file the plan in court letting the judge know they are aware of the issues and are working on fixing the issues.  As a result, the person bringing the claims would lose merit and the case would be thrown out.
When the bill was filed in February, Michael Marsh, owner of Shoreline Island Resort in St. Petersburg, described it as a step in the right direction.  Marsh was sued a few years ago for not having a pool lift and not having proper ADA parking spaces among other things.
Marsh spoke with us back in November and expressed frustration over the lack of information he received from building code inspectors and city officials who approved renovations and additions to his St. Petersburg resort but never mentioned anything about ADA violations.  In 2015, Marsh was sued by Howard Cohan, Florida's most prolific ADA plaintiff.  Since 2012, Cohan has sued more than 1,200 Florida business owners over ADA violations.  Cohan, who has never spoken publicly about his suits, claims he doesn't get paid and files lawsuits as an ADA advocate who is disabled himself.
For years, excessive ADA lawsuit filings have flooded court dockets around the state.  The lawsuits all allege the same thing:  the business is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.  The lawsuit, which often looks the same other than the defendant's name and a list of violations, will describe how the business is violating the ADA Act. Violations range from a bathroom mirror that's too high to a disabled parking space that's non-existent.  
But many business owners slapped with these lawsuits have cried foul, claiming they were served papers only to be served with an ultimatum from the plaintiff's attorney: pay to settle quickly or pay more to drag it out and possibly end up in court.  The majority of ADA lawsuits filed in Florida settle out of court for undisclosed amounts of money because most settlements are confidential.
The bill was filed by (R) Representative Tom Leek of Daytona Beach.  Leek is an attorney by trade and filed the bill after defending clients against ADA lawsuits he described as unnecessary and frivolous. Documents associated with the bill mention our series of investigations.
Watch more of our coverage on Florida ADA:
http://www.wptv.com/longform/is-your-website-ada-compliant
http://www.wptv.com/longform/florida-lawmaker-files-bill-to-curb-ada-lawsuit-abuse_
http://www.wptv.com/longform/ada-lawsuits-whos-driving-serial-suers
http://www.wptv.com/news/florida-in...olific-ada-plaintiff-did-not-sue-in-bad-faith
http://www.wptv.com/longform/florida-businesses-in-battle-witih-so-called-serial-suers


----------



## ADAguy (May 8, 2017)

Sounds like the beginning of a CASp program to me without minimum qualifications for ADA experts.

Stay tuned for more developments


----------



## steveray (May 8, 2017)

Really???? They used crippling.....?


----------



## ADAguy (May 8, 2017)

Where do you see the "C" word?


----------



## mark handler (May 8, 2017)

ADAguy said:


> Where do you see the "C" word?


In the "Title".


----------



## ADAguy (May 8, 2017)

Yes, that was a "bad" choice of words.


----------



## conarb (May 8, 2017)

ADAguy said:


> Yes, that was a "bad" choice of words.



Not according to *the late great George Carlin*, politically correct language is the language of idiocy and has no place in codes or code discussions.


----------



## ADAguy (May 9, 2017)

There was a time in the code when "cripples" were acceptable in framing.


----------



## Filthy McNasty (May 13, 2017)

I agree that it is high time Florida do something about the PLETHORA of ADA lawsuits that go on over there.  I like the idea of the bill.  I like the concept.

However the bill isn't any good if it gets signed.  Did you see who counts as a "qualified" expert?  An engineer?  A landscape architect?  An interior designer?  Give me a !%*#*$% break...  You will wind up with civil engineers becoming ADA "experts" overnight.  If the governor signs this, it will be a cluster you-know-what.


----------



## conarb (May 13, 2017)

At this point the politically correct language movement has reached such extremes that the thought control has to be exposed and out of our laws, codes, and educational system.



			
				Heat Street said:
			
		

> Administrators at the University of Arizona are now accepting applications for “social justice advocates,” whose job it is to snitch on other students accused of bias. They’re also expected to hold educational programs about “the mosaic of diversity, multiculturalism and inclusivity” and maintain “social justice bulletin boards” in student residence halls.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




¹ https://heatst.com/culture-wars/u-o...to-police-fellow-students-for-bias-incidents/


----------



## Msradell (May 14, 2017)

The whole problem of ADA lawsuit abuse could easily be solved if local authorities were given powers to enforce the ADA. At the present time there is no mechanism in place in most states for ADA enforcement. If I tried to go to a place that is not in compliance with ADA requirements (I can find many of them here Louisville quite easily), there is nobody I can go to, to point out the violations and have them pursue actions against the business that is in violation. Unfortunately, here in Louisville, there are not even any local attorneys who were willing to file and pursue a lawsuit against such businesses! So that leaves me with no courses of action to pursue a business that doesn't comply with ADA requirements.


----------



## tbz (May 17, 2017)

Msradell said:


> The whole problem of ADA lawsuit abuse could easily be solved if local authorities were given powers to enforce the ADA. At the present time there is no mechanism in place in most states for ADA enforcement. If I tried to go to a place that is not in compliance with ADA requirements (I can find many of them here Louisville quite easily), there is nobody I can go to, to point out the violations and have them pursue actions against the business that is in violation. Unfortunately, here in Louisville, there are not even any local attorneys who were willing to file and pursue a lawsuit against such businesses! So that leaves me with no courses of action to pursue a business that doesn't comply with ADA requirements.



There is nothing in the Law that says you need to be an attorney to file a lawsuit, you can file on behalf of yourself.


----------

