ADA activist urges locals to get
involved
By Christy Scott
The Alpine Sun
ALPINE — Local business owners and Alpine Chamber of Commerce members discussed the next step in the fight against the American with Disabilities Act lawsuits, filed around town in late March, at the Tuesday morning hot topics business breakfast.
The flurry of lawsuit threats was orchestrated by Theodore Pennock, the handicapped lawyer who peppered Julian with ADA suits in December. In his letters to area businesses, Pennock wrote that he had “recently” visited the town and had found it to be generally lax in its compliance with the 15-year-old law.
In those letters that The Alpine Sun has seen, he demanded payment of $10,500, with the amount to go up if the business fails to fully comply with ADA by March 27. Attached was a lengthy — but as yet un-filed — lawsuit complaint in which Pennock alleged everything from incorrect support bars in restrooms to inadequate parking and ramps, to counters of the wrong height.
Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA) President Andy Kotner was on hand at Tuesday’s meeting to discuss how community, county and state can build political action to fight against these lawsuits.
“We have such a lawsuit-happy state here in California,” Kotner said. “No matter who wins a lawsuit, we all — business owners, residents, taxpayers, and consumer — everyone loses because we have to pay for it.”
Kotner said that everyone must band together to warn others and bring a voice to the problem.
“This problem isn’t going to change overnight, but I think that, if people aren’t afraid to speak out, we can get change,” Kotner said. “I need your voice.”
“We’ve got to get everyone, even the communities that haven’t been hit yet,” Kotner said. “We need to be the voice crying in the wilderness that is yelling ‘it’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming’ and help people.”
While many local business owners are already working to bring their buildings into compliance, Kotner warns that this might not safeguard them from future suits.
“Just because you settled, or made your business ADA compliant — don’t be silent, don’t give up — because we’ll lose the battle,” she said. “Pennock is just one of a handful of attorneys in California that is filing these lawsuits.”
Kotner talked about a business owner in La Mesa who settled his case, but was hit again nearly two years later by Pennock.
According to Kotner, in a press conference held earlier this week, Pennock said that he is tired of being harassed by businessowners and will no longer be sending compliance letters, but rather will file actual lawsuits in federal court.
“He’s got a bigger hammer now against business owners who get these lawsuits, because now you have to deal with a federal complaint,’ Kotner said.
Earlier this year, Californians to Stop Shakedown Lawsuits (CSSL) had an initiative for the November ballot that would have addressed the ADA lawsuit problems.
The measure was scheduled to receive title and summary from the state attorney general on Feb. 23. However, it was withdrawn the day before, following a written commitment from politicians to deal with the problem.
In signed letters dated Feb. 22, President Pro Tempore of the Senate Don Perata and Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Nunez said that they, “stand ready to lead a legislative process to address issues related to construction defects and access rights of disabled persons.”
According to Kotner, since that date, nothing has been done by either representative.
“Year after year, we work on legislation to bring change to this ADA law,” she said. “They promised to do something about this ADA issue, and nothing has been done.”
“The more money that the attorneys make, the more money they turn back into Sacramento to keep the people who won’t vote for this law in office,” Kotner said. “This is not partisan, but we want the law to be changed.”
According to Kotner, one of the reasons that the attorney general doesn’t look into investigating these lawsuits is that residents have not been vocal about the problems.
Justin Tackett, of Congressman Duncan Hunter’s office, was also at Tuesday’s meeting to talk about what Hunter’s office is doing to deal with the ADA lawsuits.
“The federal court is now starting to look at this,” he said. “The state bar has said that, at the moment, this appears to be just a wave of suits to correct problems, but if they were petitioned and informed about any of the things that are taking place, they could start to look at this more closely.”
“We have investigators with the district attorney’s office and Bonnie Dumanis. We have the state bar investigators working as well — looking at extortion on one side and ethics on the other side.”
Business owners at the chamber of commerce breakfast were given petition letters to sign and send to Perata and Nunez, as well as local politicians.
 Workmen remove the concrete sidewalk in front of the office of
The Alpine Sun prior to constructing an ADA-compliant parking and unloading area.
 E-mail
the Editor
|
|
