5 NYers responsible for over 400 lawsuits for handicap access

[Trish]

If you have ever been to New YorK city and im not talking just the tourist district, around the theatre district and you got into the city and its boroughs, there are small business that are tiny in size and finances. Many small business have steps up right from the sidewalk, these are converted brownstone walkups that were made into small business. The steps are right on the sidewalk, there is no place to put a ramp for wheelchair access and do it all over the city, then redo bathrooms in small spaces. The expense is huge. Nothing in NYC is cheap and any kind of construction costs big time along with permits etc.

There are many NYs that make a living along with attorneys over suing everyone for anything.
I meant what I said it was a two sided sword, but the law has to be revisited and it has to be realized that every single small business cannot comply with this law without many going out of business.

I feel for handicapped people all of them, but they have to realize its impossible to give them easy access to everything everywhere. Its a shame you have some riding around the city just looking for small business to sue and extort money from.

I love NY and have been a number of times. My friend had an apartment of Park Avenue but she recently sold it so no more free NY visits for me. :0(

Since my friend was a home grown NYer we'd stick to many non touristy places. You're absolutely right about the small mom and pop establishments. Many of these places are in buildings that were built a long long time ago and it's not a quick or easy fix. In some instance there is NO fix.

Off topic but funny true story: My friend and I were walking down to the farmers market. I had never been and she wanted to show me. As we're passing these beautiful brownstones we hear pounding. There standing in front of a brownstone was a gentlemen in nothing but a towel around his waste pounding on the door. I looked at my friend and she looked at me and shrugged and said "it's NY". Then we strolled on by without a word. Yes, I did peak back around to see whether the fella had any luck but he still remained on the front stoop. As we walked around the corner we could still hear the pounding that quickly was drowned out from our laughter. I told her I needed to visit NY more often.

[donttread]

These handicapped New Yorkers are behind hundreds of lawsuits


Five New Yorkers in wheelchairs are behind nearly 400 lawsuits brought against small businesses for lacking handicap access.
Such legal claims have been criticized as part of a “cottage industry” of “serial plaintiffs” who target mom-and-pop establishments for quick cash settlements. But others see the suits as helping enforce the American with Disabilities Act.


Wheelchair ramps and bathroom doors are not the only battleground. Two blind New Yorkers have taken the fight online, filing a combined 23 suits against business Web sites that didn’t have screen-reading software for the visually impaired. And a woman cited seven businesses for not allowing her service dog inside.
Zoltan Hirsch, 37, a double amputee from Brooklyn, is hell on wheels for those who fail to make their establishments wheelchair accessible. Since 2010, he has filed suit against 195 businesses ranging from a Soho eyeglass shop to Brooklyn bodegas to a Hell’s Kitchen restaurant.
Four other New Yorkers have filed 200 suits over wheelchair access: Luigi Girotto (70 suits), Pedro Fontanes (55), Jerry Cankat (52) and Nauqone Taylor (23).
Fontanes, 69, of Queens, has filed 13 suits against businesses along Fifth Avenue in Park Slope between Ninth and Bergen streets.
He claims to have suffered “harm” and “injury” at cafes including Le Pain Quotidien, Pizza Town, Uncle Barry’s, SkyIce Sweet & Savory, Dizzy’s Diner and Konditori Swedish Espresso Bar.
At Konditori, he also griped that the bathroom mirror was too high.
Mark Caserta, director of the Park Slope Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District committee, blasted the suits, saying: “This shouldn’t be happening. Small business are already struggling to stay afloat, and these lawsuits could put them over the edge.”
Dennis Kearney, an attorney who defended Uncle Barry’s craft beer bar against Fontanes this year, noted most defendants settle to escape the cost of litigation.

Why would somebody pay $100,000 in legal fees to go to trial when they can pay a fraction of that and be done with it?” he said.
Plaintiffs typically ask for modest damages but demand payment of their attorneys’ fees, which can top $20,000. Kearney believes the plaintiffs and lawyers split the fees.
Commercial Web sites are the newest lucrative legal target.
Blind Brooklyn resident Marion Kiler, 66, sued eight sites throughout the state during May and June.

http://nypost.com/2017/09/16/these-h...s-of-lawsuits/

There is no decency certain people will not take advantage of.

[resister]

My wife and other handicapped Arcadians were instrumental in pressuring city hall to install wheelchair ramps on sidewalks in town, years ago, but they did not sue, just showed up en masse, to public local government meetings.

[Perianne]

My wife and other handicapped Arcadians were instrumental in pressuring city hall to install wheelchair ramps on sidewalks in town, years ago, but they did not sue, just showed up en masse, to public local government meetings.

resister, I absolutely agree. Sidewalks, government buildings, the like, that all taxpayers pay for, should provide access to ALL citizens. But private stores....no.

[resister]

resister, I absolutely agree. Sidewalks, government buildings, the like, that all taxpayers pay for, should provide access to ALL citizens. But private stores....no.

If at all possible, it makes good business sense to make ones business accsessable to all.

[Perianne]

If at all possible, it makes good business sense to make ones business accsessable to all.

I agree it makes good business sense if it is practical. If someone in a wheelchair can't enter, then that person is not gonna buy from that store.

Life is tough for the handicapped.

[Adelaide]

..........just when you thought it couldn't get any crazier.........and the NYC courts are pandering to them......IMO, this redefines frivolous lawsuits.
If they have a legit complaint, then let it be thus, but a mirror? @Common great way to start off the week........lol

It's not actually that frivolous because there are laws about accessibility.

But they are taking it pretty far.

[Crepitus]

This is a two sided sword, first its obvious they are making a living off of threatening lawsuits.
Second they obviously are right on some level about the access.

The problem is many storefront small business in the city are physically small and putting full handicap access is a big physical challenge and a bigger financial one..

Which is why we always rent facilities that are already equipped.

[DGUtley]

I got one of these in NE Ohio. I got one claim in around February. Paid $4000 of insurer money, against our better judgment. Cost of defense, client had spent $14,000 rehabbing ramps etc. Now, this same guy has filed (I've been told, b/c I've only seen 3) 13 more lawsuits. I just got another one with his name on it. He'll get the 6 hour deposition treatment. He goes store by store by store seeking access and then sues when he can't get in.

[Crepitus]

36 inch wide doorway on all public access spaces including restrooms, all public access spaces on 1 floor, parking space, ramp over curb, handrails in minimum 1 stall in each bathroom. We usually occupy strip malls and most of them are already equipped.