Serial litigators file lots of cases and that means lots of decisions, sometimes coming in batches. I’ve omitted a few decisions that say nothing more than the cases I have reviewed just to keep this blog manageable. If there is a theme, it is simply that despite very clear trends toward limiting serial litigation by paying more attention to standing, the outcome of any given case depends very much on the judge because there is still relatively little Circuit court guidance on some issues. Like Delacroix’s inspirational painting of Liberty Leading the People, celebrations of freedom from abusive ADA and FHA litigation may be premature. Before making any strategic decision you need to research the specific decisions of the judge who will hear your case because the ancien régime isn’t gone yet. More
ADA Litigation Procedure
Quick Hits – assembly line edition.
With more than 40 new decisions in the last two weeks it hasn’t been easy getting this blog out. I’m not the only lawyer with too much to do too fast, as the following cases demonstrate.
The problem with industrial litigation
In a classic episode of “I Love Lucy” she and her friend Ethel get a job in a chocolate factory but find they can’t keep up with the assembly line and have to resort to stuffing chocolates in their mouths and shirts.³ I thought of their predicament when I read Garcia v. Hwangbo, 2021 WL 149086 (C.D. Cal. Jan. 15, 2021), one of hundreds of cases filed on behalf of Orlando Garcia by the “Center for Disability Access.” The problem with an assembly line practice is keeping up with the speed of the line, and Garcia’s lawyers found they couldn’t keep up on January 15 when Judge Olguin dismissed the Hwangbo case under the terms of a docket control order that required the defendants be served within 90 days of filing. More
The Online Accessibility Act of 2020 – does it do what it needs to do?
On October 2, while the news covered President Trump’s admission to Walter Reed for treatment of Covid-19, Congressmen Lou Correa (D-CA) and Ted Budd (R-NC) introduced the bipartisan Online Accessibility Act, which they claim will “increase website accessibility and reduce predatory lawsuits filed against businesses.”¹ Will it work? That’s a reasonable question.
Quick Hits – Christmas in September
The title of today’s blog recognizes the gift bestowed by Judge Nannette Brown on everyone interested in the ADA in all its many details. Bailey v. Bd. of Commissioners of Louisiana Stadium and Exposition Dist., 2020 WL 5309962 (E.D. La. Sept. 4, 2020) is the latest of Judge Brown’s decisions concerning the dispute over stadium seating in the Superdome. Written after trial, the 64 page decision methodically dissects the law concerning concerning which standards apply to what parts of a facility after alterations, what the sight-line requirements for stadiums are under the various standards, including an exposition of the law concerning Auer deference and the effect of Kisor v. Wilke, how Title II program accessibility requirements fit into design/build standards, what kind of control is required for a person to be an “operator” of a public accommodation, when and how the “reasonable modification” requirement in Title III of the ADA applies to Title II entities, and last but not least the extent to which Title I’s “interactive process” requirement might apply to Titles II and III. The Fifth Circuit, and maybe the Supreme Court, will have the last word in this case, but if you are looking for a quick reference to almost every issue that comes up in a case involving altered facilities you can find it in this decision.¹ More
Quick Hits – Now is the summer of our discontent edition
Here’s a very unhappy looking King Richard III contemplating the murder of his nephews and possible rivals for the throne, or perhaps the latest headlines. While the latest cases on accessibility law don’t usually look like light reading, right now they are a cheery diversion from the rest of world events. Here we go:
Voting Rights and the ADA
People First of Alabama v. Merrill, 2020 WL 3207824 (N.D. Ala. June 15, 2020) deserves its own blog, but illustrates how the reach of the ADA is sufficient to touch every aspect of public life. In People First the plaintiffs were elderly and disabled, suffering as a result from an enhanced risk of significant illness or death from Covid-19. They claimed that Alabama’s restrictive absentee voting laws violated Title II of the ADA by depriving them of access to voting, which is for ADA purposes a state program for which the ADA requires equality of access. The Court agreed in most respects and entered a preliminary injunction requiring the state to make absentee voting easier in several respects. The case is on appeal, so the outcome remains uncertain, but it illustrates how the provisions of Title II of the ADA can affect every state and local government program, including those usually thought of as purely political.