You can’t turn down or evict a handicapped* tenant because renting to him would increase your risk of liability. That is one of the important lessons from the Second Circuit’s June 2 decision in Rodriguez v. Vill. Green Realty, Inc., 2015 WL 3461554, at *15 (2d Cir. June 2, 2015). If a tenant or prospective tenant is willing to accept some risk caused by his or her handicap the landlord doesn’t get to decide he shouldn’t. More
Accessibility Litigation Trends
Trash talk – ADA problems in the restroom.
By Richard Hunt in Accessibility Litigation Trends, ADA, Hospitality, Restaurants, Retail Tags: ada litigation, ADA Policies, restaurants, retail
Last week I wrote about the ADA problems created by point of sale displays. The same case, Kalani v. Starbucks Corp., 2015 WL 846651, at *4 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 25, 2015), includes a warning about trash cans and restrooms.
In many older buildings, including those built after the ADA standards went into effect, restroom size is a serious problem. Because of plumbing issues restrooms are difficult to expand or move, and the location of the toilet and sink may be fixed for all practical purposes. When local codes permit it, turning two restrooms into a single unisex restroom may help, but in many cases restaurants and others with ADA restroom problems seek to comply by building the smallest permissible restroom. More
POS Marketing and ADA Compliance – you can’t have it both ways.
By Richard Hunt in Accessibility Litigation Trends, ADA, ADA regulations, Restaurants, Retail Tags: ada litigation, Point of Sale, POS, restaurants, retail, Starbucks
I’ve written twice recently about temporary barriers to access (“You’ve got to walk the walk” and “You’ve got to walk the walk part II). It is an issue that will probably never go away because standard point of sale marketing techniques are very likely to conflict with the ADA. The latest decision is one in the apparently endless of series of battles between Starbucks and Robert Kalani. Kalani v. Starbucks Corp., 2015 WL 846651, at *4 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 25, 2015). More
Condominium and Homeowners Associations beware: the FHA can apply after a sale.
By Richard Hunt in Accessibility Litigation Trends, Apartments, Condominiums, FHA, HOA, Multi-Family Tags: Apartments, Condominiums, private lawsuits
U.S. v. Avatar Properties, Inc., 2015 WL 2130540 (D. New Hampshire 2015) is a little case with a big reminder: condominium and homeowners associations fail to accommodate disabilities at their own risk. The law isn’t perfectly settled, but it is safe to say based on this and other cases that ignoring an accommodation request is probably not a good idea.
It almost worked, and then it got worse: An ADA strategy lesson.
By Richard Hunt in Accessibility Litigation Trends, ADA, ADA FHA Litigation General, Doctors, Hospitals, Medical, Medical, Professional services Tags: ada litigation, ADA pleading, ADA standing, Doctors, Hospitals, Medical, private lawsuits, private litigants
The defendants in Association for Disabled Americans v. Reinfeld Anderson Family LTD, PRT, 2015 WL 1810536 (S.D. Fla. 2015) came within minutes of total victory on a motion to dismiss, but failed in the end. The case is a study in ideas with superficial appeal that can actually make things worse. More