I’ve observed before that titles II and III of the ADA create what can be called a crime looking for a victim.* The decision in Hamer v. City of Trinidad, 2019 WL 2120132 (10th Cir. May 15, 2019) shows how defining the crime can change the burden cities may face today based on decisions that go back decades or even centuries. The decision in Hamer will allow almost any person with a disability to demand that every inaccessible facility of a town like Trinidad be fixed regardless of its historical origin and regardless of how long the plaintiff has known of the problem. This decision contradicts decisions from other Circuits and follows a dubious analytical path. (For those who want a different view on this case, William Goren’s blog Repeated Violations Doctrine makes the case for this decision being correct). More
Public Facilities
ADA Standards – can you sit in a wheelchair while you stand at the bar?
By Richard Hunt in Accessibility Litigation Trends, ADA - serial litigation, ADA Bars, Design Build Discrimination, Public Facilities, Restaurants Tags: Accessibility Litigation, ADA defense, Bar accessibility, Frank Sinatra, Joni Mitchell, One for the Road, Raised on Robbery., Restaurant accessibility
Must there a place at the bar for wheelchair users? Although there seems to be no relevant case law on the subject this is a contentious issue in many of the ADA cases we handle. It’s worthwhile to ask just what the ADA does or should require, or if that question can be answered based on the ADA and accompanying guidance and regulations.† More
Temporary profits can mean a permanent problem under the ADA
By Richard Hunt in Accessibility Litigation Trends, ADA, ADA Policies, Apartments, Condominiums, Public Facilities, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers Tags: accessible parking, ada litigation, parking lots, Public accommodation
What’s wrong with this picture? You can be excused if you don’t immediately think, “no accessible parking,” but that might be the first thing that would come to mind for the defendant in Langer v. G.W. Properties, L.P., , 2016 WL 3419299, (S.D. Cal. June 21, 2016). Langer serves as a reminder that a business not usually covered by the ADA can become a “public accommodation” based on temporary use, and that this may lead to requirements for permanent changes. Commercial enterprises and apartment complexes should pay attention, as should any owner of raw land that allows it to be used for parking from time to time.
Abusive ADA Litigation – the answer is local, not legal
By Richard Hunt in Accessibility Litigation Trends, ADA FHA General, ADA FHA Litigation General, Building Codes, DOJ, municipal government, Public Facilities, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers Tags: ada litigation, drive-by lawsuits, drive-by litigation, private lawsuits, restaurants, serial litigation

ADA Title II – Maybe sidewalks aren’t services after all
By Richard Hunt in Accessibility Litigation Trends, ADA FHA Litigation General, DOJ, municipal government, Public Facilities, Title II Tags: accessible facilities, cities, project civic access, sidewalks
Does this look like a “service, program or activity?” The official position of the Department of Justice is that every city facility – sidewalks, buildings and the like – must be made accessible because building and maintaining those facilities is a “service, program or activity” of the city. The Fifth Circuit agreed in what has been a leading case on this issue, Frame v. City of Arlington. Now it appears this view is not unanimous. Just a month ago, in Babcock v. Michigan, 2016 WL 456213, (6th Cir. Feb. 5, 2016) the Sixth Circuit found that the Fifth Circuit was wrong, and that: