ADA Violates Rights
I've never forgotten about our local ambulance chaser, Jason Singleton, going around town suing businesses for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. He wouldn't even give warnings and, if memory serves me correct, didn't even have a disabled person hire him for the lawsuit. He filed the suits by himself for the expected settlement.
So, it was rather irritating to see that he's still at it and has sued yet more businesses over ADA violations. Singleton needs to be run out of the county on a rail. You'd think he already would have been by now.
I think we need to get rid of the ADA altogether, not so much because of these types of lawsuits but because it violates the rights of businesses to run their business as they see fit. No one has a right to be serviced by a business and a business has the right, as far as I'm concerned, to do business with whomever it wants.
Most businesses want all the business they can get, so it's not like someone in a wheelchair won't be able to survive, as many businesses will likely make accomodation for them.
Sadly, the ADA is likely something that will be with us for eternity, just as ambulance chasing lawyers like Singleton will. Combine a politically correct, touchy feely law like the ADA with politicians and lawyers and we can be assured that the ADA and the rip off lawsuits will be with us for years to come.
posted by Fred Mangels @ 7:56 AM
22 comments
22 Comments:
I wonder why the cops haven't caught him flying illegal immigrant hookers and bags of cocaine into the country by now. Just ask the folks in Hyampom about his drug-fueled orgies. Preying on the weak and stealing from them to pursue his own perversions, Jason Singleton and David Cobb have so much in common.
Are Don Davenport and Jason Singleton related?
Related? I have no idea.
What I find interesting is that the ADA guidelines are very clear about what you need to do to make your business accessible. Ignorance is no excuse. However I do whole heartedly agree with you on Singleton. He is a bottom feeder only out for himself and NOT someone looking out for the disabled. The biggest flaw in the current legislation is the fact there is no window to correct any problems or violations, no 60 days to make things right. I feel most businesses are not consciously violating the ADA and would do what is reasonable to comply.
I'd be more comfortable with the ADA if the disabled were actually the ones who were compensated for violations,instead of crony attorneys.Our elections officer Lyndsay McWilliams told me that about 7 buildings in the city of Eureka now are compliant enough to hold to be a polling site,hence the polling location shuffle.Even Tri-County Independent reps who rode with him when selecting polling sites thought that the provisions were fairly ridiculous.
I used to work at Toni's and we would go out of our way to help anyone with a disability. She wasn't lying when she said that someone would call in the order and it would be delivered to their car.
The menu is on a big wall to the right when you come inside. The grade of the walkway is not that bad. The aisles *are* narrow and not set up well, but she also had oustide tables that were covered in case they wanted to stay and eat there. Surprisingly, no person did. They would order and then leave. And no one working there ever tried to treat them differently, other than going well out of their way to take care of their orders and make things as easy as possible.
That ass needs to find a new hobby. Like self-lobotomization.
The attorney fee provisions and mandatory damages of the ADA definitely need some reform. It allows for "professional plaintiffs" to wander the country looking for violations - the goal being to collect money rather than enforce compliance.
Heard a story about one such plaintiff who was discovered to be a fraud and when the police came to arrest him somewhere in the Bay Area he got up out of his wheelchair and ran.
I'm not against mandatory regulations, but the ADA is putting people out of business, and in some cases it's actually hurting handicapped folk rather than helping them - a classic example being the moving of a polling place for Garberville out of Garberville hampering the voting ability of those who can't drive.
As an aside Fred, Singleton has done quite well by Razzuli, whom you list on your homepage as a local "libertarian business."
I respect the spirit of the ADA regulations, in terms of taking steps to make stuff more accessible to those with disabilities, but it is a seriously broken system. To me, it's becoming harder and harder for folks to self-employ in this country, due to all the regulations, many of which, unlike ADA, I do question on more than their poor implementation (and which I plan to do a lot more research on next semester). Vandana Shiva, an activist in India, wrote about "pseudo-health regulations" enacted by the government which were meant to do little more than put the small guy out of business by imposing regulations they couldn't possibly meet. I worry that same thing is happening here, and small guys are getting hit, since, generally, the well-backed corporations have the cash to implement all regulations, silly or not (which makes me wonder, perhaps, where the origin of some of these regulations is? Must research more thoroughly...)
I know. I was almost, but not quite, shocked to see he had Singleton represent him in that case with the two exotic dancers who sued him for minimum wage (one of whom is also a libertarian).
As an another aside, I got on Ashley's case for joining the lawsuit. I'd called her on the phone for some other reason but couldn't help but let her know my opinion about the lawsuit. She replied along the lines of, "I knew I was going to catch a bunch of shit over this...".
I think she was almost embarassed about her involvement in it.
The problem with the ADA, as Clint Eastwood tried to explain to Congress, is that it doesn't allow the business owner to make the repairs necesary, it is just a cash cow for people like Singleton as the fines and fees are automatic, crippling the business in question, when a simple carpentry job could fix the problem. It isn't that the business owners are opposed to raising their phone 1/4" up to meet the requirements, it is the draconian fees for minor "violations' such as that, and even more minor 'violations'.
It's horrible and Congress should have fixed it a long time ago. And I agree, Singleton should be run out of town on a rail.
Singleton also represented Razooli when the county tried to shut him down for a zoning violation.
I sat in briefly in the back-pay case of the dancers. It was in interesting argument re whether they were employees or private contractors. It all has to do on the level of control you exert over the dancers in terms of the time and nature of the performance. Never heard how the case ended.
The court ruled in favor of the defendants (Razooly lost). Reason being that Razooly had a "rule book" that specified what the dancers could and could not do while they worked at his club. I guess the judge felt that gave him the "level of control" that you're referring to.
I don't know that I agree with the judge's decision. But, as I said before; Just because a judge decides one way or the other, doesn't necessarily make it right, it just makes it the law.
Oops! Razooly was the defendant. The judge ruled in favor of the plaintiff.
It was a jury trial actually. I was early for a court appearance and with some time to kill I decided to check out a couple of trials including that one. I remember Singleton tossing some papers at one of the witnesses and the opposing attorney objecting "Your honor, can we forgo the dramatics?"
The woman described what she did with a trapeze, and a little bit of the oxygen left my brain...
That doesn't excuse Singleton's extortion racket. he's the worst of the worst.
I've never been on the opposite side of a suit with Singleton, so I can't comment on his ethics. I don't like some of the things I've heard, but it's all second hand so I'm not going to repeat them. I'm sure there are attorneys out there with bad things to say about me.
But I do think the ADA needs serious revising.
Serious revamping? That's an understatement. I think if you will check you will find that governmental businesses and buildings and offices are exempt from filings and fees like Singleton's. That alone ought to tell you what is wrong with it. If the government can't live with it, they ought not pass draconian measures on to the populace.
Actually, that's not completely true. I was in the courthouse during one ADA trial last year and Judge Brown had moved into another courtroom more suitable for a wheelchair party because apparently not only is the court potentially liable, but the judge individually!
find out if the legislators have to adhere to the law they passed, eric. try lexis
Eric - your as much of a bottom feeder as Singleton.
anon 8:02 - What do you know about it?
Having been a victim of ambulance chasers myself, and a law degree, I can tell you this. Just based on your brief description here, this guy doesn't sound like he graduated at the top of his class.
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