[QUOTE=lindsaybluth]
My brother was hit by a car going 45mph while on his bike. There was a witness saying the driver was going 20 over the limit (and tire marks to prove it) and that my brother wasn’t at fault. The driver tried to sue him for damages to his car. You can’t even make this stuff up it’s so absurd.
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is objectively insane and horrible and an unambiguous example of the sort of opportunism the OP is talking about. I hope your brother made it through okay, lindsaybluth.
I would assert it’s even worse when an individual goes after a small entity that doesn’t have a lot of money, since that way the person suing can be even more sure the “victim” won’t fight the suit.
In the town where I used to live, a disabled guy (wheelchair-bound) had found himself a lawyer, and together they would visit local bars and restaurants, with tape measure in hand. They would then attempt to find any violation of the ADA, however trivial: the mirror in the restroom is one inch too high, the accessibility ramp is 2° off, the door handle isn’t exactly the right type, etc. etc. The lawyer would then approach the proprietor, and threaten a lengthy, costly lawsuit.
At this point, the business owner has to two options: “see you in court, buddy” – and maybe win, but only after spending a lot of money and time away from running his business. Or, “if you promise never to come back, I’ll cut you a check right now.” Then the negotiations would begin. I think the lawyer and his client made quite a decent sum of money with this shakedown – for all I know, they’re still doing it.
Bear in mind, these weren’t “big, evil corporations” or large chains like Applebys, Denny’s etc: these were mom-and-pop businesses, usually struggling to break even, who certainly couldn’t afford the cost of litigation.
That makes it a little harder to stand up and do the right thing…I just wish we could turn around and make sure we didn’t pay out. We’ve got the resources, and it would send a message.
Oh he’s fine, this was several years ago. All that he has today to show for it is a large scar. He almost wasn’t though - a millimeter above and he would have had permanent brain damage, a millimeter below and he’d have lost an eye. He got very lucky as to where he made contact with the car with his head. He was very passionate about road biking and he’s never ridden since.
Unfortunately he’s not the only one, it’s quite the little scam some people have running. Link.
There was a guy profiled on This American Life who does what DarrenS is talking about. It sounds outrageous on the surface, but they maintain there is no other way to get businesses to comply. When you hear first-hand stories about how impossible it is to do things like get your hair cut because there isn’t a parking space in the strip mall that can accommodate your wheelchair-lift van, you get an idea about how frustrating life must be for these individuals, when there are laws that are supposed to help them do such normal tasks that the able-bodied take for granted.
About a year ago, one of my employees got to work and mentioned that on the way there she got into small fender bender. Someone ran a stop sign and the two of them collided (she didn’t have a stop sign). They were going so slow there was no damage to either car so they exchanged phone numbers and walked away. The next day she got a call from him. He was planning to sue her for running the stop sign (he lied about the direction the two of them were entering the intersection from) and something about a back/neck injury unless she or her insurance wanted to pony up the cash now. I looked at her and said “I hope that’s the last time you get into an accident and don’t call the cops to come take a report” then I told her she should have responded by saying “What accident, I wasn’t in an accident yesterday, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Also, before anyone gets on my case about calling the cops for a fender bender, this is in a small enough town that they don’t have a problem responding to this kind of thing, in fact, if she had called 911, she more then likely would have had multiple squads there within minutes…also, I don’t advocate lying about being in the accident, that part was said in jest.
A lot of defendants will pay out money, claim they did nothing wrong and that it was just such an extortion, whereas the person accepting the money regards it as either a great victory or an acceptable compromise.
It really does depend a lot on your point of view, unless you get a ruling of frivolousness or no probable cause, which is rather rare.
That makes sense if they’re going after places that don’t make any provisions at all, but if they’re doing it in situations where a tape measure is needed to identify the problem that’s pretty different IMO. I have no problem with a business being forced to put in access ramps, but threatening legal action because a ramp is a couple of degrees off the specified angle seems to me to be going after the wrong people.
Exactly. I’m all for businesses doing whatever needs to be done to make their services available to everyone; in fact, leaving aside that it’s the right thing to do, that just seems like sound business sense, since it will allow more customers access to whatever the company is selling.
What I’m not keen on is a lawyer turning up with a tape measure, and threatening the business owner with bankruptcy because the mirror in the restroom is 1" outside ADA code. That doesn’t help disabled people, doesn’t help the community in general and only serves to line the lawyer’s pockets.
The thing I object to is that Wheelchair Guy and Lawyer are shaking down the owners for their own profit, rather than getting the owners to fix legitimate problems. To me, this says that they care nothing for actually fixing any problems, and everything about getting as much money as they can.