Slipped under the radar?? [About me getting kicked out of gym]

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

There are those who, in response to certain posts of mine, continue to bring up the unfortunate incident(s) that led to me getting kicked out of the gym that I had called home for more than a decade. This is true, however; why do none of these people ever mention or even acknowledge the fact that this is by no means a settled issue? The Federal Government, after receiving my letter to the Dept of Justice, has become involved in this case. They are doing so because they have determined that my claim has merit (at least enough to go forward).

I posted this letter a long time ago and nary a person said one word about it. :dubious:

I am currently at the stage of waiting for the three-party talks (HHFC, myself, neutral mediator) to be set up.

The Government’s response…

James B. McGarry

2127 ****** **

Davison, MI 48423

Dear Mr. McGarry:

The Disability Rights Section of the Civil Rights Divison of the Department of Justice has received your correspondence alleging violation of title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), 42 U.S.C. ^^12189, and the Department of Justice’s implementing regulation, 28 C.F.R. Pt. 36 (enclosed), which prohibit owners and operators of public accomodations and commercial facilities from discriminating on the basis of disability.

Because the process of investigating and litigating ADA complaints can be time-consuming, we propose to offer you a means to resolve your complaint through informal means. The Department of Justice sponsors a mediation program designed to allow parties to resolve their ADA disputes quickly and satisfactorily. We have determined that your complaint is an appropriate candidate for referral to this service.

Through this informal mediation process, an impartial third party assists disputing parties to develop mutually satisfactory solutions to their differences. Mediation typically involves one or more meetings between the disputing parties and the mediator. It may also involve one or more confidential sessions between one party and the mediator. A successful mediation results in a binding agreement between the parties. Mediation proceedings are confidential.

The role of a mediator is not to act as an advocate or judge, but, rather, to help the parties reach a mutual agreement. Mediation is informal and representation by an attorney, while permitted, is not required. The mediators participating in this program have been trained in the legal requirements of the ADA. In addition, the mediators have access to neutral experts from the local disability rights community.

Participation in the service is voluntary, both for you (the complainant) and for the entity accused of violating the ADA (the respondent). If you would like us to refer your complaint to this mediation service, please carefully review and sign the enclosed Release for Referral to Mediation and return it to us in the enclosed envelope. Your return of the signed Release will allow us to release your name, address, and telephone number, and other information provided to us in your complaint to the mediation service and will allow the mediation service to release that information to the respondent. Such disclosure is necessary to facilitate open communication between you and the respondent during the mediation meetings. The respondent may not use this information to retaliate against you for filing this complaint. After we receive your signed release form, we will notify the mediation service and they will contact you.

In addition, upon receipt of the signed Release, we will notify the respondent of your complaint and recommend that the respondent enter into the mediation. We will explain to the respondent that the Department of Justice will suspend any action pending resolution of the mediation and that participation in mediation will allow the respondent to complete this matter without the involvement of the Federal government.

If we do not receive the signed Release within thirty (30) days of the date of this letter, we will assume you do not wish to participate in the mediation program. If you decline to participate in mediation, our file on your complaint may be closed and no further action taken. If the respondent declines to participate in the mediation service, or if mediation is unsuccessful, your complaint will be retained by us to determine whether to pursue further investigation and/or litigation of the complaint.

We hope you will take advantage of this opportunity to resolve your ADA complaint.

Sincerely,

Lisa Levine

ADA Mediation Program Officer

Disability Rights Section

2

Reading between the lines, what I’m getting from that letter is “We’d really rather not piss away a lot of taxpayer money dealing with this. We have no idea if your complaint has any merit, but we’re going to give both parties a chance to talk it over like actual adults and see what happens.”

They are definitely not making any judgements about the legal quality of your case. I suspect, based on the account you’ve given and what we’ve seen of your character in your posts here, the final result of a trial would be that you were not discriminated against because being a Chronically Offended Person Who Doesn’t Cut Anyone Any Slack and Never Lets Things Go Already is not a protected class.

3

“In addition, upon receipt of the signed Release, we will notify the respondent of your complaint and recommend that the respondent enter into the mediation. We will explain to the respondent that the Department of Justice will suspend any action pending resolution of the mediation and that participation in mediation will allow the respondent to complete this matter without the involvement of the Federal government.”

If they thought my case had no realistic potential for having a sound legal basis then they would not have gone forward with this step.

4

They are politely telling you to go pound sand.

5

And despite you ending your post being rather snide, I’ll tell you that the case’s strong point isn’t the parking lot incident. It is the exercise-banning; the banning without any alternative means to do the exercise provided. I also posted the exact section of the ADA which was in violation, but if you want to see that, find it yourself.

6

A private business has a contractual obligation to do business with you solely based on you being disabled?

Rather doubt that.

7

You need a hobby.

8

There is no requirement that gyms give you an “alternative means to do the exercise” when they ban you for engaging in out-of-control behavior on their property. The ADA isn’t there to undo the consequences of your bad behavior. They haven’t even investigated your baseless, fraudulent, wasteful claim. It’s a form letter. It’s the equivalent of the White House spitting out a letter saying they think all views are important when someone sends in a screed about the 16th Amendment being illegal.

9

Huh? I don’t know what you are saying there but this is the section of the ADA that HHFC was not in compliance with. *Exercise machines and equipment; I had no accessible lat-pulldown machine or equipment.

New Requirements in the 2010 Standards Not Subject to the Safe Harbor

•Amusement rides
•Recreational boating facilities
•Exercise machines and equipment
•Fishing piers and platforms
•Golf facilities
•Miniature golf facilities
•Play areas

•Saunas and steam rooms
•Swimming pools, wading pools, and spas
•Shooting facilities with firing positions
• Residential facilities and dwelling units
•Miscellaneous

– Team or player seating
– Accessible route to bowling lanes
– Accessible route in court sports facilities

10

Perhaps you should have just addressed the equipment issue. Wrapping it up with your self-control issues in parking lots isn’t going to help.

11

IANAL but I am familiar with DoJ mediation and know that mediation is usually offered up regardless of the merit of a case.

If you have a strong case, the government would rather you and the other party work it out. If you have a weak case, the government would rather you and the other party work it out. Their contract with mediators doesn’t say, “we’ll give you the just the ones where the citizen was wronged”. Basically the more things they can funnel to mediation, the less they have to investigate, and the better off everyone is. The alternative is expensive for everyone, time consuming, and an emotional drain.

The DoJ has limited resources, and they try to filter out what they have to investigate.

Basically receiving an offer to mediate letter doesn’t imply either that you have a strong or a weak case.

12

I’m sorry you view my life in such trivial light. I don’t expect empathy from online strangers, but at least humor me and let me talk about it without cutting me down.

13

Nice. :rolleyes:

14

No, jamiemcgarry, that is not what they have determined. If they had determined that, they would have said so in the letter. They are suggesting you resolve the dispute through mediation because it makes less work for them and costs less than a full investigation. Whenever you ask the government to settle a dispute, they will encourage you to mediate it instead. I took a former landlord to small claims court a few years ago and was offered a similar mediation option. It wasn’t an acknowledgement that I had a good case (or a bad one). It was a way to end the disagreement without getting the legal system officially engaged, with all the money- and time-consuming stuff that entails. They don’t want people to use the legal system as a first option in all disputes.

Maybe they didn’t care.

15

You know, I know that for awhile jamiemcgarry posted only about one issue. He has since posted in many threads and on many topics other than his disability. I *get *that for some reason, for some people, jamiemcgarry’s particular sins (and I know what they are or at least I know what you think they are so no need to go on and on about it here) are eclipsed only by those of Osama Bin Laden and Hitler, but ffs. Give the guy a motherfucking break. Sometimes I hate how mean this place is. The Dope reminds me a bipolar alcoholic father - you know you love him and when he’s great he’s really really great; but with no warning and without any rhyme or reason at some point he is going to turn into a hateful asshole and slap you across the face for wearing the wrong shirt. Edited to say that while I was posting, Marley23 and aaelghat posted non-evil information-filled responses and my post is not directed at those…

16

tesseract, I understand where you’re coming from, but let’s not turn this particular thread into a referendum on either jamie’s overall behavior on the boards or on the response of other Dopers to that behavior. The topic of this thread is the letter he got from the DOJ.

Thanks,

twickster, MPSIMS moderator

17

You do realize this is a form letter? When the DOJ speaks of suspending any action, they are in fact not stating that there is any action pending. At most the DOJ is not making any judgments about the realistic potential for anything, and more than likely have made a determination that nothing here merits more than an hour or two of a mediator’s time as a way to get you to go away.

18

Yes. They would.

Cases with no legal merit are settled and mediated ALL THE TIME, for a variety of reasons. Sometimes (oftentimes) the reason boils down to “we have a 99% chance of winning this case but I’m not willing to risk that 1% chance that the jury’s as insane as the plaintiff and we end up trying to appeal a 100 million dollar decision for the next four years racking up $1 million in legal fees trying to do so. Give the stupid guy $100,000 and get him the hell out of my life.”

19

As I read my government doublespeak, the first part quoted is an invitation to just take care of the issues between you and the gym through mediation. You know, talk it out and get nowhere.

The second quoted part tells you what the government is willing to do if you refuse mediation and can’t work it out. They will drop the whole thing.

Sorry, but that is how I see it. The rest of the letter is just filler with a little bit of ‘things you can do until you give up’ thrown in.

20

I think Dallas nailed it.

I find that this is as honest as I can be, since ‘Mommy’ says we can’t discuss the actual factors.