David Galbraith
It seems as though the most popular law in the history of the universe is the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce thinks the ADA has brought about “remarkable positive changes.” The National Restaurant Association, the American Hotel and Lodging Association and fifteen other groups that lobby for the interests of private businesses wholeheartedly agree. They all said so in a statement they issued in support of federal legislation that guts the crap out of the ADA.
That bill is HR 620, the ADA Education and Reform Act. It passed the U.S. House of Representatives February 15 by a vote of 225 to 192.
Here’s why it reeks:
Around the corner from where I live is a restaurant with a big honking step on the front entrance, which means I can’t get in there with my motorized wheelchair. Title III of the ADA says private businesses that are open to the public must make reasonable efforts to accommodate disabled folks like me, or we can file suit against them in federal court.
But if HR 620 becomes law, before I could even take my case to court, I would first have to submit a detailed letter to the proprietor explaining the alleged violation. If the proprietor doesn’t respond within sixty days, I can then proceed to court. But if I get a response, the proprietor will have another 120 days not to remedy the problem but only to show that he or she is making substantial progress (whatever that means) toward that end.
The main House sponsor of HR 620 is Ted Poe, Republican of Texas. Oh, and in case you didn’t guess, Poe is also a big ADA fan. In a press release issued by his office when he introduced HR 620 in January 2017, he described the ADA as “vital.” But Poe said the integrity of the ADA has been tarnished by “frivolous lawsuits filed by cash-hungry attorneys and plaintiffs.”
He talking about those so called drive-by lawsuits where lawyers file ADA complaints against multiple local businesses and then settle out of court for cash without fixing the access violation. To make their case that such lawsuits are rampant, Poe and pals like to point out that the number of Title III lawsuits in federal court has increased every year between 2013 and 2017.
His statistic comes from the research of the law firm of Seyfarth and Shaw, which has a team of lawyers across the country that specialize in defending business against Title III claims. It is a source that has a vested interest in seeing things a certain way.
But let’s assume their numbers are accurate and their motives are pure. Nowhere does the research estimate how many of these lawsuits are of the “frivolous” variety. The increase in 2017 is attributed to a growing number of complaints about the website inaccessibility of businesses.
So where’s the epidemic? Tales of drive-by lawsuits are like those hair-raising stories about welfare fraud. They make for blaring headlines but in the grand scheme of things are not that common. There are other ways to deal with sleazy lawyers who abuse the ADA.
Poe introduced a bill by the same name in the last Congress but now is his golden opportunity to get it to the desk of a President who will sign it.
HR 620 should be called the Spin Cripples Around in Circles Until They’re too Dizzy to Sue Act.
Why have I never sued that inaccessible restaurant around the corner? Because doing so is already a pain in the butt. Filing suit in federal court isn’t on my daily to-do list. If HR 620 becomes law and I have to jump through yet more hoops before going to court, I’ll be even less inclined to take action.
And Poe and pals will have accomplished their real mission. HR 620 should be called the Spin Cripples Around in Circles Until They’re too Dizzy to Sue Act.
I better hurry up and sue that restaurant before it’s too late.
Mike Ervin is a writer and disability rights activist living in Chicago and a regular contributor to The Progressive. He blogs at Smart Ass Cripple, “expressing pain through sarcasm since 2010.”