EDITORIAL: Some protection from shakedowns

PRESS-ENTERPRISE EDITORIAL

Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed sensible legislation aimed at protecting small businesses from costly lawsuits over technical violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Senate Bill 269, by Sen. Richard Roth, D-Riverside, provides businesses 15 days to fix minor violations of the ADA upon receipt of a complaint or written notification. The sorts of violations covered by the law include faded or damaged paint in parking lots.

For too long, the good intentions of the ADA have been used to enrich trial attorneys and serial plaintiffs, rather than actually encouraging compliance with the law. Upward of 40 percent of all ADA lawsuits in the nation occur in California, often against small businesses that can’t absorb the cost of defending lawsuits.

That’s because violations of the ADA, even without any evidence of actual harm, are considered breaches of California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, thus entitling successful litigants to a minimum of $4,000 in treble damages. This conflation of the ADA and state civil rights law has spawned a cottage industry of serial litigants who have targeted businesses for the most petty of violations.

“The Americans with Disabilities Act was intended to increase compliance and access, not become a source of income for trial lawyers,” said Tom Scott, California executive director for the National Federation of Independent Business. “This bill gives small businesses the opportunity to correct minor violations without a costly shakedown lawsuit.”

SB269 is Sen. Roth’s second attempt at curbing ADA lawsuit abuses. Last year, he introduced Senate Bill 251, which called for protecting businesses with up to 100 employees and also called for a tax credit to help businesses bring their properties up to compliance with the ADA. Though SB251 was overwhelmingly approved by the Legislature, Gov. Brown vetoed the measure on the grounds the state couldn’t afford the tax credit.

Fortunately, Sen. Roth quickly returned with an iteration that was easier to pass, and which still possesses great potential to cut down abuses of the ADA.

“SB269 is a bipartisan, commonsense solution that will guarantee access for disabled Californians by providing small businesses with the tools and resources necessary to comply with state and federal disability access regulations,” Sen. Roth said in a statement.

We thank Sen. Roth for standing up for both the small business and disabled community. We hope any further abuses of the ADA can be addressed in a similarly bipartisan matter.