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HEADS UP, Monterey Peninsula enterprise house owners. A wheelchair certain disabled man who’s filed greater than 800 lawsuits alleging violations of incapacity entry legal guidelines has taken intention at greater than a dozen mom-and-pop outlets in Salinas, and the Peninsula may very well be his subsequent goal.
Since July 5, Orlando Garcia — with the assistance of a San Francisco legislation agency that prosecutors in two main cities have accused of “shaking down” companies — has filed 13 civil complaints in Monterey County Superior Courtroom.
Garcia and his attorneys allege the Salinas outlets, bakeries, laundromats and different small companies he visited earlier this yr had insufficient or nonexistent disabled parking, excessive counters, tight door handles and different obstacles that made it troublesome for him throughout his visits.
Represented by the Middle for Incapacity Entry, a division of the Potter Helpful legislation agency, Garcia and his attorneys boast of their litigation prowess.
“Within the yr previous the submitting of this criticism, Garcia has filed roughly 634 lawsuits alleging violations of construction-related accessibility requirements,” based on a July 19 criticism Garcia filed in opposition to the house owners of La Mariposa Bakery & Deli in Salinas.
That is from Kelly Nix, “Serial ADA plaintiff targets Salinas outlets,” Carmel Pine Cone, August 26-September 1, 2022.
It’s a front-page story. What I discover refreshing about it’s that regardless that it’s a information story, it doesn’t pull its punches. It’s extra like a “information evaluation,” to make use of the time period the New York Occasions makes use of. However the Occasions editors would by no means have the center to run a narrative like this.
Right here’s one other fascinating half:
Los Angeles District Lawyer George Gascon and former San Francisco District Lawyer Chesa Boudin contend that Potter Helpful’s scheme is to mix lawsuits court docket, permitting them to bypass repeated makes an attempt by the California Legislature to finish ADA lawsuit abuse.
The trick is to “falsely” assert standing in federal court docket, Gascon and Boudin stated, thereby avoiding the strict necessities to file a declare underneath the state’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, whereas demanding small companies pay “the heavy damages out there underneath the Unruh Act.
Discover the names Gascon and Boudin, two of probably the most unpopular California District Attorneys in current historical past, Certainly San Francisco voters not too long ago recalled Boudin.
Later:
The tactic isn’t what federal and state civil rights and accessibility legal guidelines have been supposed for, the prosecutors’ go well with says. “It’s a shakedown perpetrated by unethical attorneys who’ve abused their standing as officers of the court docket,” in accordance [to] Gascon and Boudin’s lawsuit.
The truth that even Gascon and Boudin are on board with this can be a considerably hopeful signal.
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