ADA Lawsuit Dismissed for Lack of Standing

The decision is significant because it could limit the number of ADA lawsuits against businesses.

May 03, 2018

WASHINGTON – A lawsuit alleging violations of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was dismissed by a panel of federal judges in Florida on Monday. An individual consumer, known as a frequent filer of ADA compliance lawsuits in Florida, had alleged that Port of Call shops in Cocoa Beach Florida had a number of impediments to accessing their store that violated the ADA and had thus sued the store’s parent company Beachside properties. 

Beachside properties argued that the consumer lacked standing to file suit as she had only visited the now closed Port of Call shop once and had no legitimate plans to ever visit again. The trial court in the case rule in favor of Beachside and concluded that the consumer did not have the necessary standing to bring a lawsuit. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed and upheld the trial court’s decision.  They determined that since the consumer lives about 175 miles away it was not likely she’d attempt to return to Beachside properties in the future. 

The decision is significant because it could limit the number of ADA lawsuits against businesses. Those suits have rapidly increased in recent years.  Some have argued that the suits result from unscrupulous lawyers using disabled individuals as an income stream.  The consumer in this case, however, has argued that the only people doing active enforcement are individuals like her who travel to businesses and file lawsuits over alleged violations they discover. 

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed legislation, the ADA Education and Reform Act (H.R. 620) which is aimed at helping educate business owners on what can often be the difficult and confusing process of complying with the law as well as at curbing abusive lawsuits which seem to only seek a financial payout rather than actual compliance.  Disabilities rights groups vehemently opposed the legislation, particularly the language that would provide a period of time during which a business owner could work to fix alleged violations after being notified of those violations without being subjected to a lawsuit.  During the House floor vote, many disabilities rights advocates loudly protested from the gallery and a number of them were arrested.  The legislation passed in a largely party line vote, 12 democrats voted in favor while 19 republicans opposed. The bill’s future in the Senate is questionable as 43 democratic senators recently signed a letter opposing the notice and cure time period  in the legislation. 

NACS GR staff is continuing to work with legislators to find a path forward on legislation to curb these lawsuits.  They were recently part of a meeting hosted by staff for Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Diane Feinstein (D-CA) that served as a forum for business groups and disabilities rights groups to try to find common ground solutions to the problem of rampant ADA lawsuits.  That conversation is slated to continue at future meetings. 

The full opinion in the case can be found here.

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