Happy New Year! 2019 is going to be a great year, unless you are a small business owner or property owner in Sacramento or the bay area. Why is that? Because Scott Johnson is very likely to sue you in 2019 for ADA violations. The numbers don’t lie.
Scott Johnson is a very prolific filer of ADA lawsuits
As best as I can tell, Scott Johnson filed a total of 532 ADA lawsuits in federal courts throughout California in 2018. That is about 44 cases each and every month. Scott’s first lawsuit was filed January 1, 2018 and his last batch was filed on December 28, 2018. As you can see, the man and his attorneys are very, very frequent users of our court system.
Keep in mind the United States District Court charges a $400 court filing fee for each new lawsuit. That means that Scott Johnson paid around $212,800 in court filing fees alone in 2018. I wonder how the court system feels about Scott Johnson given his largess.
Don’t be an easy target for Scott Johnson or his attorneys
Regrettably, Scott Johnson and his attorneys at the Potter Handy (aka the Center for Disability Access) have no trouble finding new businesses to sue for ADA violations. It it not uncommon for me to discuss these cases with people that have no idea that they are out of compliance until they are targeted by one of these ADA lawsuit.
Don’t be an easy victim. If you are a small business owner or a property owner, one of your 2019 resolutions should be to schedule a CASp inspection. A professional ADA site survey will help identify any accessibility problems — and a good inspector will help you find creative ways to solve these problems. Remember, only full ADA compliance will keep you out of court.
Scott Johnson isn’t the only one filing these ADA cases
Scott Johnson is easy to hold out as a perfect example of our broken disability access laws. This is because he files so many lawsuits year in and year out. However, he is not the only one doing this. An entire cottage industry of professional ADA litigants has developed and there is no end in sight.
Our political leaders in Sacramento will not take meaningful steps to stop these abusive lawsuits. I strongly recommend that people targeted by drive-by ADA filers to contact their State Assmeblyperson and State Senator. Our political leaders need to hear from real people just how troubling ADA lawsuit abuse really is.
Have you been targeted by Scott Johnson, the Center For Disability Access, Potter Handy, or others? Please contact my office at (916) 333-2222 to discuss your options.
