Frivolous ADA Lawsuits

[BullGoose]

This past Wednesday (4/12/23) I was served with a civil lawsuit seeking $25,000 in damages due to my website supposedly not being ADA Compliant. The current version of my website was launched merely six months ago and the developers emphasized that it would meet all ADA requirements so my spidey senses started tingling immediately.

I'm fortunate to have a private investigator as a good friend as well as a few lawyer friends. In digging into this, we discovered that the plaintiff is a serial litigator who has 188 ADA lawsuits. It seemed odd that he was filing all of these lawsuits Pro-se (without a lawyer) so we dug a little deeper. The plaintiff is tied to a dis-barred lawyer (he embezzled client funds) who is acting as the puppet master. This dis-barred lawyer has a handful of disabled clients that he uses to file all of these lawsuits. The lawsuits are cookie cutter lawsuits and all are aimed at websites and not physical locations. They seek $25,000 in damages with a settlement of $4,000. For this client alone (and there are several other clients) the total settlement amount for the 188 cases would be $752,000.

What's perhaps even more interesting is this particular plaintiff seems especially interested in shaving websites, barbershop websites and cigar shop websites that are based in Los Angeles County. The day after I was served, the Shaver Shop down the street from me was also served. Although they do have a physical store, the suit filed against them was also for their website and not the physical store.

I have hired a specialty law firm and intend to fight this rather than settle. Someone needs to draw a line in the sand.

[kronos9]

Counter sue his ass for million$. Strong opinion to follow.

[BullGoose]

Counter sue his ass for million$. Strong opinion to follow.

We definitely plan on going after him. My lawyer has several clients who have been sued by this same guy.

[CMur12]

Good for you, Phil!

It's really discouraging to see the ever-increasing pursuit of ill-gotten gains. I'm sorry that you have become a target.

- Murray

[brothers]

A regrettable misuse of the courts. What kind of a judge would entertain hearing such a case. Rhetorical question of course. Meanwhile the defendants are looking at legal fees of at least $4000 just to get it thrown out. If the court eventually orders the plaintiffs to reimburse the successful defendants' legal fees they can't pay because they are broke. B.S.

[drmoss_ca]

I'm sorry to hear of this, Phil, and hope you whip them properly.

How does a website have to be ADA compliant? Big type for visually impaired? That sounds as daft as saying all books must be in large print.

C.

[BullGoose]

Good for you, Phil!

It's really discouraging to see the ever-increasing pursuit of ill-gotten gains. I'm sorry that you have become a target.

- Murray

Thank you Murray! It certainly seems as if this kind of thing has become a lot more common since the Pandemic.

[BullGoose]

A regrettable misuse of the courts. What kind of a judge would entertain hearing such a case. Rhetorical question of course. Meanwhile the defendants are looking at legal fees of at least $4000 just to get it thrown out. If the court eventually orders the plaintiffs to reimburse the successful defendants' legal fees they can't pay because they are broke. B.S.

Yes, that is it in a nutshell. We hope to be able to go after the dis-barred lawyer who is directing the whole scheme.

[BullGoose]

I'm sorry to hear of this, Phil, and hope you whip them properly.

How does a website have to be ADA compliant? Big type for visually impaired? That sounds as daft as saying all books must be in large print.

C.

Thank you Dr. Moss. The requirements for websites to be ADA compliant have gotten way out of hand. For instance, you have to be careful of the colors you use so that it does not impact the color blind or those with epilepsy. If you have any videos on the site, they have to have closed captioning for the deaf. Any picture must have alt tags so that screen readers can read a description of the photo. The list of requirements goes on and on. It is virtually impossible for a non-static site to be 100% ADA compliant.

[drmoss_ca]

Is it worth approaching the local media with any of this?

C.

[BullGoose]

Is it worth approaching the local media with any of this?

C.

I have thought about that and it may very well be worth it. It's a pretty interesting story and affects a lot of businesses in the area. A good investigative reporter could no doubt uncover even more layers to this scheme.

[Gene]

I worked for a company quite some time ago that had something similar happen - We were sued over a supposed patent infringement. They were called patent trolls (and this was years before social media) - they would buy up patents (somehow) and then scour current technology for features currently being offered that might have been covered by an old patent. They sued big and settled quick.

Best of luck - hope you can bloody them up a bit.

[brothers]

One may presume that the plaintiffs and/ or their advocates have carefully chosen their venue beforehand based on the voter politics and judicial leanings of the current appointees who may influence the outcomes. We shouldn't get our hopes up.

[TRBeck]

Is this the same guy who bought up the domain names for a bunch of the older wetshaving vendors and then showed them the door? IIRC, he took Vintage Blades, Classic Shaving, Straight Razor Designs, and a few others. Or a different vulture?

[BullGoose]

Is this the same guy who bought up the domain names for a bunch of the older wetshaving vendors and then showed them the door? IIRC, he took Vintage Blades, Classic Shaving, Straight Razor Designs, and a few others. Or a different vulture?

This is a different vulture. There apparently is no shortage.

[BullGoose]

I worked for a company quite some time ago that had something similar happen - We were sued over a supposed patent infringement. They were called patent trolls (and this was years before social media) - they would buy up patents (somehow) and then scour current technology for features currently being offered that might have been covered by an old patent. They sued big and settled quick.

Best of luck - hope you can bloody them up a bit.

Thank you Gene! I hope that we can as well.

[TRBeck]

Is this the same guy who bought up the domain names for a bunch of the older wetshaving vendors and then showed them the door? IIRC, he took Vintage Blades, Classic Shaving, Straight Razor Designs, and a few others. Or a different vulture?

This is a different vulture. There apparently is no shortage.

Sorry to hear it, Phil. Fight the good fight! I'll keep doing my part to keep you in business.

[BullGoose]

Is this the same guy who bought up the domain names for a bunch of the older wetshaving vendors and then showed them the door? IIRC, he took Vintage Blades, Classic Shaving, Straight Razor Designs, and a few others. Or a different vulture?

This is a different vulture. There apparently is no shortage.

Sorry to hear it, Phil. Fight the good fight! I'll keep doing my part to keep you in business.

Thank you Tim! I appreciate it.

[brothers]

From what I've seen so far it appears to be someone in the shaving goods and services market who wants to chase the competition out of town so they can scoop up the business. Otherwise they would be going after each and every website anywhere and everywhere in the realm of the ADA. If they're sincere - they're not - they would be busy filing a blanket complaint to the appropriate authorities against all "websites". They are contemptible. Phil, it makes me sad to see this happening. This is just wrong in so many ways.

[drmoss_ca]

Perhaps the complainant is working on behalf of Gary's postulated owner, and the disbarred lawyer is just an advisor.

We should look for the one online store that has not been sued, or was and immediately settled.

C.