Federal courts dismissed six Americans with Disabilities Act “drive by” lawsuits against Minnesota businesses over the last three months.
Federal courts dismissed six Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) lawsuits against Minnesota businesses over the last three months.
The cases are colloquially known as “drive by” lawsuits due to the practice of plaintiffs driving by businesses in order to spot ADA violations and then filing suit in order to obtain a quick settlement. Small businesses often settle these cases rather than risk years of costly legal fees.
In one instance, the plaintiff claimed that a Chinese restaurant lacked accessible parking spaces. The restaurant fought back, pointing out that creating the spaces is not readily achievable and would cost between $29,000 and $39,000, which would put the restaurant out of business. The plaintiff argued that the restaurant probably had enough money to make the changes because they could afford legal fees to fight the lawsuit, and could raise more funds by mortgaging assets and by not paying the owner’s salary.
Other cases were thrown out for a variety of reasons. In one instance the court ruled that since the plaintiff lived over 100 miles away from the service station and had only visited the location once, he was unable to demonstrate ongoing future injury. Another case was thrown out when the court found that the plaintiff’s lawyer had already tried to sue the restaurant for the same alleged violations previously and had lost that case. In yet another lawsuit, the defendant changed his restaurant to accommodate the requested changes only for the plaintiff to amend his complaint alleging other violations, which the court ruled against because the original claims were now moot.
Dealing with ADA lawsuits is time consuming and expensive. NFIB’s Legal Center has additional information available for members targeted by predatory lawsuits.
