A joint lawsuit by the district attorneys of San Francisco and Los Angeles counties seeks to address the problem of predatory litigation that business owners have long argued is happening in their neighborhoods, even forcing some to surrender so much money it drives them out of business.
“It’s going to take something like this to continue to draw attention to these predatory ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) lawsuits,” Victor Gómez, executive director of California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA) told the Northern California Record. “CALA and other statewide organizations have been ringing the bell on these issues as we’ve seen mom and pop shops closing because of these lawsuits.”
According to the complaint, filed April 11 in San Francisco County Superior Court, the Potter Handy law firm, doing business as the “Center for Disability Access,” filed hundreds of lawsuits on behalf of clients who never even went to the business they sued.
“Each year, Potter Handy files thousands of boilerplate ‘ADA/Unruh’ lawsuits on behalf of a few repeat plaintiffs ('Serial Filers') against California small businesses with little regard to whether those businesses actually violate the ADA,” the suit states.
The shakedown practice has been going on for years, Gómez said.
The lawsuit includes many pages of exhibits, at least one from 2005, to substantiate the lawsuit’s claims.
Gómez noted that California Attorney General Rob Bonta could take steps now to address the alleged actions by Potter Handy and other serial filers.
“He could urge the state Legislature to adopt new policies that really allow the business community, small business owners in California, allow them the time and the resources that they need to remedy the issue,” Gómez said. “Because, as we know, these lawsuits don’t actually fix anything; all they do is close businesses.”
Boudin’s office on Friday also released a map showing many of the San Francisco businesses hit with allegedly fraudulent ADA suits.