The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has recently addressed the number of repeated ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) lawsuit filings, with a novel repudiation in its unanimous ruling in Shayler v. 1310 PCH LLC.
“Shayler is binding precedent in the Ninth Circuit, and it essentially gives district courts permission to substantially reduce attorneys’ fee awards in ADA Title III cases that involve serial plaintiffs and boilerplate complaints,” Minh N. Vu, a Seyfarth Shaw partner who handles labor and employment cases, told the Northern California Record by email. “Some judges will probably be inclined to do so now that the Ninth Circuit has essentially approved of this.”
The ruling, by Justice Milan D. Smith, Jr., outlines the impact of serial ADA litigation and notes that federal ADA cases in the Central District of California have grown from 3 percent of its civil docket to roughly 20 percent in recent years.
“In sum, while Shayler may be dissatisfied with the district court’s explanations, they are sufficient to undergird its fee award under Ninth Circuit precedent,” the ruling states. “At bottom, this was a simple, relatively uncontested case. Given the repetitive nature of high-frequency ADA litigation, there was nothing irrational about the district court’s conclusions that, in effect, much of the work here could have been performed by junior associates or even paralegals, or that much of the motion practice in the case was superfluous. Consequently, the district court did not abuse its broad discretion, particularly in light of the Central District of California’s considerable experience with these kinds of cases.”
There is also discussion of the cottage industry of ADA litigation in California.
Vu noted that courts have called some plaintiffs “serial” litigants, but ADA plaintiffs haven’t before been subject to repudiation from the Ninth Circuit.
“It is uncommon to the Ninth Circuit to express such frustration with those plaintiffs and attorneys who have taken advantage of the law,” Vu said.
Of the roughly 11,400 ADA Title III lawsuits filed in federal court last year, more than half were in California.
Vu noted that the Ninth Circuit Shayler decision gives district judges permission to substantially reduce attorneys’ fees in cases involving serial plaintiffs and boilerplate complaints.
“That said, very few ADA Title III lawsuits are litigated to judgment when the court would consider plaintiff’s request for fees,” Vu said. “Defendants usually settle cases early to avoid incurring defense costs which they can’t recover unless they win and show the case was frivolous.
“The deck is stacked against defendants in that way because plaintiffs, in contrast, just have to win to get their fees and costs. Thus, I don’t see this decision deterring any plaintiffs or their attorneys from filing, but it’s certainly very helpful if there is fight over plaintiff’s attorneys’ fees.”