Totally agreed! Funds collected by legitimate law breakers who haven't changed the offense should go to the ADA and not some single buthurt individual.
@@boss-anova No work is required on his part. The lawyers do it all and they take a cut. Its a big scam. The money should go organizations that benefit people with disabilities. Not a single person.
Your anger is misdirected. Yes, I don't like the serial litigant, but the problem is with the way the law is written. The law itself needs to be changed. The litigant is filing legitimate lawsuits using a law that wasn't well written.
@@addanametocontinue Nope, no individual should be able to just roll down the street and sue eveyone in sight because he wants to. People are afraid to speak out, its the same with racism. People bow down to the left because they are are afraid of ebing called out and the businesses need to stand up to people that violate the good intent of the law.
He’s not trying to help other handicapped people.... he’s trying to get rich. And it’s working!! The fact that he has filed 700 cases in less than 10 years is outrageous!!
That's quite literally what his 'job' is, he's testing the compliance of companies, frivolous or not that's something someone has to do otherwise there's limited ways that compliance can be checked outside of random 'raids' of companies assumed to be lacking compliance with someone who is disabled in the ways the raid is hoping to test.
@@crlcan8121 If he's testing compliance why is is only testing the smaller companies and not the larger ones. Also why doesn't he say to the companies your not ADA compliance and give them the chance to fix any issues instead of going straight to court. When I had a problem with a store here in the UK. I spoke to the manager and a few days later met with the owner over a cup of tea and the issue was fixed.
@@Westcountrynordic There is one simple reason for going after small businesses. Volume. Look at the street in the news story. It is a row of small businesses with a door to a business only a few feet away from the next business. A “tester” can enter, document and leave in a matter of minutes making it easy to get dozens of interactions in just a few hours. It could take all day to inspect/test a high rise building with dozens of floors and rooms. Each floor must have a minimum of handicap bathroom stalls available. You might assume that every bathroom is identical, but that is not necessarily so. A huge corporate headquarters could be a Labyrinth of floors and offices and much of it with limited access. Are they testing only for areas where the public is allowed? That is a fraction of the building in most cases. It is a long way between big offices like that if you are in a wheelchair, further limiting possible infractions. The “tester” may even have to enter and exit his/her vehicle several times. With help I am sure. It looks like only mobility handicaps are being tested. What about seeing or hearing impaired? I am mobility impaired but not in a wheelchair. Sometimes I can only walk short distances before my lower back starts hurting. Other times I can go a little longer. Soon after the ADA was passed, small businesses had to spend money to redo bathroom facilities, aisles, and other problems. I worked at a business that had only one bathroom for a dozen or so employees and customers that could vary dramatically. The owner wanted to remodel, but refused to because she couldn’t remodel without having to make everything ADA compliant. I knew another business that had to completely redo their bathrooms.
@@enid0mom Nothing to do with the fact that large businesses will more likely have money to fight and a legal department. On another point why go straight to legal action why not give the owners a chance to at least try and address any issues. I get that there may be things needed doing and the "tester" is doing good by highlighting them but to go straight to legal action is a bit questionable to me. I have had issues where access has been a problem but a talk to the owner normally gets things done, If not a call to local council who will give the business a 60 day notice to fix the problem has solved it
Want to know the problem with the logic of saying "it's a scam"? If they were in compliance with the *federal laws* then he would have no case. Small businesses in particular are horrible at adhering *to the laws* making life even more difficult for people who need that disability accomodation, because the small businesses think they're going to be okay flying under the radar or are exempt *from the laws*. As for "why not larger businesses" most larger businesses aren't going to allow a random disabled person access to their complexes unless you have an actual reason to be there. Disabled workers need to file their own cases if they see fit, and they often do if the company refuses their reasonable requests. I can't see Boeing allowing some random dude off the street into their manufacturing or office spaces for example. For front facing side of their businesses, especially on retail like a big department store or franchise restaurants like McDonald's they more or less do follow compliance laws because it's mandated by corporate policy. IE the bigger businesses are on the radar and are more often monitored, and when something does pop up they do get taken to task for it. The bigger the corp the farther they go to prevent potential lawsuits or governmental fines. Workers who don't grant accomodations and get caught are retrained, punished, or fired, even if it's as simple as making sure the customer gets that sugar free soda they asked for rather than saying "sorry we can't replace it once it's been served" and sending the customer into diabetic hell. You don't get that as often with smaller businesses depending on how they're run. The ADA department in the DOJ pursues these cases and investigates on their own. They will be the ones to enforce compliance. Stop assuming that the guy is a scammer, it doesn't take a genius to do some research on the subject. There is an mailing list you can subscribe to at the DOJ website that will dump these cases and their resolutions into your email each week. You'd be surprised at how many businesses think they can get away with not adhering TO THE LAWS (Oh right, did I mention the ADA is a FEDERAL LAW? A scam is throwing yourself under a bus. Not making sure people ADHERE TO THE LAWS THAT ARE ALREADY IN PLACE), what would shock you is how many *schools* try to get away with screwing over a disabled child. And if you think 700 cases is bad in one city, imagine what hell it is for disabled Americans in other countries when we don't even get the bare minimum when we expect reasonable accomodations. I *wish* Britain would adopt something like the ADA because a lot of businesses and owners of older "historical" buildings don't even pretend to be disabled accomodating and you get petty elected bureaucrats, not trained social workers, deciding whether or not your illness is "good enough" for what few disability accomodation entitlements there are. And despite people's assurances here to the contrary, the UK is pretty terrible about enforcing accomodations. If you need more idea of what it's like, Jessica Kelgren-Fozard is a disabilty activist in the UK and has tons of youtube videos about accomodation in the UK.
He keeps filing because everyone keeps settling with him. I’m glad that these business owners are standing up to him and taking it to court because otherwise he’s just going to keep doing it and keep getting rich off of business owners.
The reason why business owners always settle is because the law requires the business owner to pay the complainant's legal fees if the complainant wins. (As well as his own, of course.) This creates a virtual no-win situation for the business owner. The only way the business owner can really fight the case is if he was in full 100% compliance at the time of the inspection. Otherwise, he will not only have to pay the $4000 civil penalty, he'll have to pay the complainant's attorneys fees as well. So the options for the business owner are: [1] cough up the $4,000 immediately, or [2] litigate it, and end up paying the $4,000 anyway, *_plus_* tens of thousands of additional dollars in legal fees, both for himself and for the complainant. While I strongly favor the award of attorney's fees in consumer protection cases (and most other cases as well), in the case of ADA violations, the better approach would be to allow the business a chance to correct the violation before having to pay a $4,000 penalty to a complainant who hasn't actually suffered any loss. A small sandwich shop owner is not going to be an expert on all the technical details of precisely where he has to put the toilet paper dispenser and how low a countrop has to be, etc. If the business refuses to make the corrections within, say 60 or 90 days, *_then_* the complainant could sue and collect attorneys fees on top of the penalty. That would vindicate the disabled community's rights without unreasonably burdening small business owners.
That jerk is making bank of the backs of hard working people!!! I can tell by some of the comments that most of you don’t own a business. When you work 16 hours a day and some low life legally steals your money then you can come back and make a comment
Suing is just fine if you really have been wronged by uncaring inconsiderate and irresponsible people, then you might deserve restitution but just using serial lawsuits as a source of income to get rich is an ABUSE of a system meant to compensate people who have truly been wronged.
@@paintingworlds Ah yes, “rule of law”. Like when the law said Blacks weren’t fully human or segregation was legally enshrined. Or Nazi zoning laws that forced Jews into ghettos. When man made laws finally hit rock bottom, Sharia law will save this nation.
First off let’s talk about your damn state, they don’t give a shit about businesses to begin with. 2nd off The guy did say the business did have minor violations, so the companies did violate the law. So they deserve it just like the state.
@Kevin Minn Most disabled people can still work. There's jobs that don't require standing. He's just a sack of garbage that wants other people's money. Disabled people should be accommodated, but that's not his goal, money is.
First how do you select a charity or fund? How do you keep that selection process from influence and a charity or fund receiving preferential treatment? Do you think an individual could set up a charity or fund to receive all the proceeds from all lawsuits? ADA laws are not new. A business can just as easily audit themselves. If you want change then lobby for a remedy period. People like you never think more than one step ahead.
@@ShainAndrews They said in the news story that California allows the litigants to keep the fine money, and that's likely the reason that there are so many suits like this in California. Other states clearly have a way to enforce compliance without incentivizing unscrupulous litigants from treating the ADA like a slot machine.
That's not how lawsuits work, communist. I liked that one guy's idea of giving them so many days to remedy the situation before the lawsuit can go forward.
Its not frivolous if the violations really exist. This news story doesn't emphasize the fact that these stores were violating the law. Small minor things but still a violation. Blame our never ending ADA laws and how strictly they are enforced (Nationwide).
$$$ The worst example EVER was when families of the Aurora CO. theater shooting sued the theater chain for not providing 'security'. Courts have held time and again that a public business has only certain duties to 'protect'. It was a slam dunk Loss for the families suing. In Colorado - the loser of a civil lawsuit pays for the winners court/legal costs. These attorneys took them on as clients KNOWING they would lose. Then the story comes out how the families had to mortgage homes, etc to pay these costs. Of course that was a nice talking point gained, boohoo - they lost everything against a big corporation and evil gun manufacturers...but all attorneys walked away with filled pockets. Disgusting...
it is but sadly they also know how to skate the line and with this ADA lawsuit racket they do only hit small business who don't have the money to fight it in court.... Pay 5k or 10k to settle or spend 20k fighting. I personally know of 5 place near me on the same street who were all hit within days of each other by this duce
@@button1ginger1 He has targeted small businesses in general, and accepted settlements in most cases without verifications etc. Vexation would not be as hard as people say but it would cost money. Someone needs to be the philanthropist for the neighborhood and go after him.
@@button1ginger1 I'd be interested to know if he has gone after companies like Walmart, Target, Starbucks, companies with large fully funded legal staffs. If he hasn't and the businesses he is suing are just smaller / family owned then that would be enough proof for me.
Well, 700 successful suits would show a pattern of non-compliance by businesses. But I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the ‘pattern’ you were trying to imply.
The firm targets the Bay cuz they know they will get run outta San Diego as crooks if they did any of this malicious criminal activity to local businesses.
I’ve been in my chair for 20 years and have never even thought about suing a small business. Most business owners are happy to accommodate me if I needed anything. This guy is definitely wrong. So crazy.
@Donald Thorpe, No. You are trying to shift the blame from Garcia onto the law. Garcia is using the law to extort people and to try to blame the law for Garcia's actions instead of Garcia is pathetic and not placing the blame on Garcia where it belongs. Is Garcia abusing the law? Yes. Therefore the blame lays squarely on Garcia's shoulders no matter how much to try to twist it otherwise. Absolving Garcia the way you are trying to do by blaming the law instead of Garcia smacks of leftist thinking and ideology.
@Donald Thorpe, "Take responsibility" That is a pathetically hypocritical comment coming from you considering you are trying to absolve Garcia of taking any responsibility for his abuse of the system. But then again that what leftists like you do, always blame others for what you are responsible for. Now considering this takes place in California and Democrats run California and you sound like a Democrat, that makes your comment all the more hypocritical.
I’m disabled and I’m saying this guy is a grifter. If it was truly about ADA access, he would approach the business owners and ask them to correct the issues - opening up accessibility to all patrons. I hope these business owners win and the man can no longer extort from hard-working men and women.
Certainly, being an a$$ about it isn't helping in the long run. If this gets pushed to the current conservative Supreme Court, this California provision could create a category of vexatious law, if not of vexatious litigation itself. This is supposed liberal philosophy gone plain mean.
Why does he have to talk to the business owner about complying with the law? If you sue me because I am breaking the law…you can bet I am going to correct that in a hurry….maybe even just because I don’t want to be sued again?
@@deborahschumann8286 : Usually, before you sue somebody, you make a *demand* first. That's how it's normally done. But of course, that doesn't put money in the serial filer's pockets, does it? _"If you sue me because I am breaking the law, you can bet I'm going to correct that in a hurry."_ But in the vast majority of cases, the business owner will correct the problem in a hurry _anyway,_ without anyone suing anyone. But again, that doesn't put money in the sue-er's pockets, does it?
@@pjaypender1009 : The problem is that these serial ADA filers are suing over minor technical violations of obscure regulations that no one other than professional lawsuit filers even know about. They prey on small businesses because they're easy targets. Invariably the complaint is that a countertop is an inch too high or a faucet in the restroom is an inch too low or a store aisle is an inch too narrow. These are not "real" violations that have any impact on the lives of disabled people. They're just technical violations that create a payday for predatory ADA filers who take advantage of unsophisticated small businesses who aren't familiar with the thousands of pages of hypertechnical ADA regulations that no one outside the professional ADA compliance industry would even be aware of, let alone understand. If you're really concerned about the well-being of disabled people, their needs could just as effectively be met by requiring a complainant to notify the business owner of the problem and allowing him or her a reasonable period of time to bring the business into compliance. And saving thousands of dollars in unnecessary automatic $4,000 fines and attorney's fees in the process.
I’m torn, its been the law for 30 years, they’ve had the opportunity to correct issues, at some point money is a motivator. It isn’t all that different than traffic violations.
@@JordanHaisley it’s not that simple to be 100% compliant with every law. For one, the aspects of the regulation underlying the law may change over time, but just think about your own life. Do you believe you follow all laws and regulations 100% of the time? If not, is it likely that you have major violations, or is it more likely that you would have minor violations (as these businesses)?
So you really believe that if you reduce the penalty to a "fix-it ticket", in a capitalist society stores would not be incentivized to just say screw it, I won't do anything until someone finally pointed out at which point I'll get a slap on the hand so why bother making accommodations now? That's not how Americans think or work.
@@suedeB05 Your comment seems to imply that the characteristics you accuse me of, are your own. OR, you just failed to say anything tangible. I was qui k on the uptake 25 years ago when an attorney/ disabled person team made the same attempt.
Either manfly is intentionally forgetting that this “law” is the CA version of the ADA which allows a plaintiff to get up to $4000 per violation or suit-something the federal ADA doesn’t allow, as stated in this video-or he has willfully ignored the stories of serial litigants and law firms that have filed hundreds of lawsuits if this type, not just in CA but in states like Florida. It’s just worst in CA because of the separate ability for plaintiffs to collect.
Someone like this guy from Florida has sued a bunch of colorado businesses too. No one can show he has ever been in Colorado, which has allowed some businesses to get the suits dismissed.
If a business is not complying, and its informed, why isn't the entity given time to correct the issue? If i get a ticket for a defective stop light, go to court, show the light has been fixed, the ticket is dismissed. I understand the purpose of the ADA, but something here is totally wrong.
Along the same lines, are all of these businesses actually not complying with ADA requirements? If they truly are not, then doesn’t this guy have a valid case? If there really are hundreds and hundreds of businesses not in compliance, isn’t that a sign of an even bigger problem? Why is this guy a bad guy for suing to get these problems corrected? This seems to be like someone driving down the road like a bat out of hell then complaining when they get a speeding ticket. Stop speeding and you won’t get a ticket. Stop violating ADA and you won’t get sued. Why is everyone missing this simple point?
@@OrdinaryDude67 - Do you know what all the "violations" are? What if it is a torn piece of rubber weatherstripping sticking out on a door that technically makes the doorway too narrow? The business goes back to being compliant by simply trimming the rubber strip - but this guy's lawyers are demanding $1000 or $5000 for them to drop the suit.
@@OrdinaryDude67 - Its because a lot of small businesses are in older non-compliant buildings that would cost a fortune to comply with the ADA. You will put these businesses out of business. How would you like it if I came into your home and required it to comply with the ADA? Believe it or not, there are organizations that want you to do that and eventually I expect to see it in California. It got so bad that I told people to NOT purchase an older property because it would cost more to comply than to build new. For example - there are organizations that want a completely handi-capped individual in a wheel chair to be able to roll his wheel chair onto a roller coaster like at Universal Studios in Orlando. This is nuts because these people probably would not survive the ride, but these organizations don't care!!!
@@rickd1412 I understand, but eventually these buildings need to be upgraded to comply. The ADA was enacted in 1990. It’s been 31 years. Also, that’s a bit of a bad analogy. If you get work done on your house by a professional, licensed contractor they are required to bring everything they work on up to current code. Frequently that entails additional cost to the homeowner, but that’s just the way it is. Part of doing the work includes proper inspections by the appropriate inspection agency. If the work is improperly done then it should be failed and re-done properly. I’m not saying this guy isn’t a lawsuit troll, but doesn’t it make you stop and think how after 31 years there are still so many business out of compliance?
@@OrdinaryDude67 you see, there's the issue. As stated before, some of these buildings are incredibly old, and long predate the ADA, and were made exempt due to the time, effort, and resources required for them to become compliant. We're not talking about just installing a ramp and calling it a day btw, we're talking about widening hallways and doorways, modifying bathrooms, etc. Then there's the work itself, who gets to do it? Odds are the people who wrote the law know of only a few that can do it, and wrote it specifically for them so they could make the money. And if you go to the wrong company, you could still be in violation because the wrong company performed the work. If a company has an ADA violation, they should be given a chance to correct it, before they have to show up in a court room. Just like if I have a tail light out, I should be given a chance to get it repaired before the police call someone to tow my vehicle away for noncompliance (this assumes firat strike obviously)
This person came after a small a family restaurant/bar business in my area in Sonoma County; way outside of their area. It was said he wasn't even there to order food, just passing through to find businesses to extort _ahem_ file a lawsuit for ADA updates. The business didn't have a button to push that'd open the bar door. There was access not requiring a button by going around the side. It costs more money fighting it than settling with small businesses, which appears to be the real M.O.. This business was later flooded by a huge winter rainstorm that caused thousands in damages. How they stayed alive, especially after/during the pandemic, has got to have been because the owners are loved by the community and keep showing up for them. I want equal access for those with disabilities, but a singular person filing serial lawsuits sounds too intentional and predatory. The law should change to a certain capacity.
@James Simpson idk but the bar/restaurant had been around since the 50s and my understanding is that the button was 1 of many things pointed out but that one stuck out in my memory the most.
@James Simpson they also did comply with updating the building but they were still hit financially with the lawsuit... so there lays the problem. If it was a "fix it and we'll drop the suit" that'd be great for both parties, but it was not that!
Exactly. He’s not appointed to test these places, he’s targeting them and using a private law firm to represent. 100% about profit. If they agreed to pay with clauses that said he wouldn’t personally receive any money, I’m sure his lawsuits would dry up fast
@@Mexican_Marauder The Americans with Disability Act is the name given to a group of regulations that stop people from being discriminated against. There are a few different federal departments that will ENFORCE the ADA, but they arent CALLED the ADA. You basically asked "why isn't the toolbox building the bookcase."
@@Karen-pk3uv yes…. And it’s regulated by the justice department. If it’s an “Act“ then how does he work for them? He didn’t say he worked for the DOJ. He said he works for the ADA.
How embarrassing for the disabled community who for the most part doesn’t act like this creep. I’ve used a wheelchair for 36 years since I was 15 and it never occurred to me to sue a business. If I thought it was too difficult to get around or I didn’t like the people I simply SWITCHED to another store.
As a disabled person if I had a problem I would bring it up politely with the owner and they would apologize and fix the issue by the time I next visited the business. Because they want people to come and buy their products.
@@johnree6106 Exactly! And they would also happily fix anything rather than being sued. They just need to know it's a problem and small businesses in particular would be very accommodating I'd imagine.
As a business owner, i cherish my customers. You should not have patronize a different store. I may be unaware that my establishment is violating ADA. Even without ADA, i would want to know my store is preventing a customer from entering. I would fix the issue immediately.
There needs to be a limit on how many times a person can initiate suits like this. The ability for a handicap person to maneuver in the world is not going to be improved by frivolous law suits.
@John C Do you think this guy and his lawyer are filing these lawsuits to make the world an easier place for handicap people to maneuver through? Or are they using the ADA to destroy other peoples livlihoods to make theirs? My mom was in a wheel chair for over 28 years. I was her care giver. I'm not a layman to this issue. I can't remember one place that didn't make accommodations for her. I think the night Chippendales came to town had to be her favorite. She said she could become accustomed to be carried around by beautiful men. Damn, I miss her. She was so fun.
His lawyer is so full of it. If Garcia was really about the message, he wouldn't be taking settlements and instead try to make change by going all the way with the cases. But I doubt he actually wants to go to court at all.
@@ncrtransport5993 the city has been taking steps to get them into shelter they just do it. But yea the city needs to force them out of the street out this point
Did you watch the video because it did state that he was disabled and he’s suing restaurants and businesses that are not making their business accessible to disabled people what the hell does hummus people blocking traffic have to do with him if you have an issue with that how about you sue the city
This happened to my business about 15 years ago. The guy who sued was also someone who went around small shops to do the dirty work and the lawyer he used was popular among those ADA lawsuits. We ended up settling, but what cost a lot more was our lawyer fees. Thinking back now I feel both the disabled guy, his lawyer, and MY lawyer were scums. You live and you learn.
So you think you should have been allowed to remain out of compliance indefinitely? Why aren’t you taking any responsibility for being out of compliance?
how much would it have cost you to bring your business into compliance before the plaintiff found you? Did you have to pay the settlement AND fix the store, or did the settlement allow you to avoid the fix? Thanks.
@Donald Thorpe That's not really true, Sir. My mother-in-law is 97 and living on a fixed income. When we come to stores I can't push her into, we just leave. We don't have the knowledge, funds, or time to launch a lawsuit. This guy is doing it for all the people like us, for quadriplegics who can't use their arms to get over the lip of the floor, and etc. Until the government enforces this, the plaintiff is the only game in town for people with disabilities.
@@Vessekx I'm glad you support some useless eater and his conniving lawyer who do nothing but shakedown small business owners. I bet you're a great benefit to society as well.
@@Vessekx So lots of small businesses likely running out of small shops that are rented or have no easy way of changing the decades old building should be slapped with fine for one asshole who likely has never even set foot (well wheel) in the place? Yeah no....
@@SilvaDreams, guess what? If you’re *renting* the location, the *landlord* is responsible for those building improvements. But the business itself is responsible for most other accessibility issues. This really isn’t difficult for anyone to understand who recognizes that people with disabilities are *people*, and have the same right to exist in public as everyone else.
This guy makes a comfortable living doing this stuff. He first surfaced in LA, driving around to find businesses that did not comply. Typically there were individual owners located in older structures that were categorically exempt due do size or location. He has even forced several businesses out of business with the fines and costs they suffered.
@@jackabug2475 If they do not have inside seating. If they do not have a public restroom. If they make other provisions, like bringing the food. If the building itself cannot accommodate a ramp, a 5' radius in the restrooms, they are exempt from certain ADA requirements according to the building code. Then someone makes a federal case out of it. And who will say no to a helpless cripple? Yeah. It's like that. The guy is a jerk. And his lawyer is profiting off of the guy's handicap. AND he will claim discrimination when the owner puts up a wheelchair-compatible porte-potty.
Someone needs to check if he's committing fraud himself. Like if he's receiving disability and living in subsidized housing, is he still paying a third of his income, including from the settlement funds.
San Luis Obispo county had a man who was suing everyone over trivial things like grab bars being an inch too low or not having the right angle entry Ramps etc. a judge finally put a stop to his trivial lawsuits forbidding him to bring anymore of them!!!
Here’s an idea. How about he gives the settlement back to the business to use to correct the issue. Seems like a solution to help all would be the important thing.
@@redguy8941 I don’t care what business and in general with any code. If you go looking for a violation you’ll find one. You can find violations in new construction that was built to code. This guy has filed 700 lawsuits. I’m all for making sure businesses meet code. I have one family member in a wheel chair. My mom is also disabled. I have worked professionally with disabled people for 10 years. I want every place to be accessible but nitpicking small business owners does not help the situation. Chances are the vast majority of these businesses had no idea they weren’t in compliance and they’d gladly correct the issue. How does them paying money out which may hinder their ability to correct the issue help. Why isn’t the jurisdictional building inspectors not making note of these violations. It’s like a car when you get pulled over if the cop wants to pull out the motor vehicle code he will find a violation. If it’s a blatant violation yes that’s an issue but if it was a blatant violation code enforcement and people in the community would complain.
Its these kinds of people that ruin it for everyone else… put him in prison and believe me bubba will find a way to get complete access to his ‘entryway’
I'm not sure your idea of justice is any less disturbing than the potential extortion we learned about in the video. You think because he may have taken advantage of the system, he should get raped?? Oof.
As a small business owner not even giving me a chance to fix it would be so detrimental to my business. People think if someone has a business they're rich and for some that's not the case
As a small business owner are you unaware of the ADA? Are you unaware of health and safety laws? Are you unaware of tax laws affecting your operation? Or is compliance with applicable laws part of what it means to be a business person?
@@marthas8108 Are you even aware of the ADA laws yourself and the fact that many places can be exempt for MANY reasons. Most of those small shops can do little to actually comply because they rent the building and local building codes or even altering the building makes it impossible. If you have isles of any kind they have to be a minimum of 5ft wide so a wheel chair and person can pass each other... In my store which is in an old building we have 3 isles and technically it might not pass because there isn't space to adjust stuff that much without making the isles themselves only like 3ft long.
I’ve personally worked on numerous jobs, where we had to raise countertops in restroom sinks literally 3/4”. Tore out a perfectly good countertop and sink to raise it 3/4”. There were numerous fixes like this I personally performed. They all came from a California lawyer. He advertises in publications read by folks in wheelchairs. He musta missed the classes in ethics. In my opinion.
I’m sure in his mind he thinks he’s fighting the system but really he’s hurting everyday people who are just trying to run an honest business. The money he’s taking is directly from their pockets not the governments.
Some people use the court system as a lottery. all it takes is a filing fee with the city clerk (usually under 30$)and presto! you have a lawsuit. they can pull the jackpot lever over and over. imagine having to go to court over and over becuase someone uses the court system as a weapon... people have no idea how easily it can be abused.
You'd think a Judge would have noticed and deemed the environment too dangerous for the defendant and ordered him to be confined to his homefor his own safety
@@martinsaunders7925 Yeah and we should all be given free solid gold cars and unlimited food without cost! What you said sounds much more ridiculous than what I said.
Say his name. People with ADA do have morals but this guy is taking advantage of the system and California has allowed it. Same thing happened to the Vietnamese and some Indian restaurant that made awesome stuff. Shuttered it’s door because of these type of lawsuits. This is so bad
These types of legal frameworks (bounty systems / private attorney general) are a poor substitute for simple regulation. Instead, we’ve created a cottage industry of lawyers and their disabled clients, who go around basically committing legal extortion.
If they were a "tester", they would inform the businesses of the infractions. Not just sue. Just look at proper 1st amendment testers. They inform the officers of the law to allow them to correct their actions before filing a lawsuit.
Being disabled, the law is right. There should be an ♿ compliance for all who need it. However, there are NO financial damages suffered by the complainant. Protect the small business. The plaintiff needs a mental hospital or anger management.
This happened to a guy I know that had retired, but bought an oil-change franchise for some supplemental income. A man in a wheel chair came in and asked to use the restroom. Normally they don't allow customers to use the restroom, but they made an exception for him BECAUSE he was in a wheel chair. Not long after they got slapped with a law suit.
@@norwegianblue2017 You're wrong. Where I live we use the international plumbing code which states that all businesses are required to have a restroom and it has to be open to the public.
If “civil rights violations” settlements and fines all went to community equity instead of the pockets of individuals, it would mean a lot more to underserved communities. But America is an individualist, “me first” society… even for the individual minority group member. It takes community to make change and better the country.
A $4,000 fine per business, most of which goes to attorneys and court costs isn’t all that much, and importantly it gives the person who filed the law suit some reimbursement for their time.
@@JordanHaisley that’s $4,000 under California law… on top of the $75,000+ under federal law. Equity should never be a for-profit enterprise. Harm to a community should be compensated. The current ADA is more about individual wealth than accessibility for all.
The businesses are noncompliant and should be fined since they refuse to address ADA issues. They know the laws and refuse to follow the law. Fix the issues and there wouldn’t have a problem.
My father was a small business owner twice, I myself was one too as a teen (vending machines), things like this are why we both ended up with govt jobs.
Yep. Being a lazy and worthless government worker pays far better than taking risk and actually contributing to society. Atlas Shrugged in real life today.
@@DadMouse lol you just jelly they got a pension and make more without breaking thier back, too bad thier only issues is how to keep fit since they sit all day
Working as a plumber in a brand new golds gym a couple decades ago and Ada compliance made the owners put a wheelchair ramp up to the treadmill platform. Yes you read that right.
Wheelchair ramps aren’t just for wheelchairs. I’m a crutch user and yes, I can get onto and walk on a treadmill by holding onto it. I’m also visually impaired with messed up depth perception.
@@frankyflowers absolutely. Businesses tend to do everything illegal to save money then look to the community for help when they get caught and get in trouble. Its pathetic.
@@boss-anova its really better if this habitual litigant goes there and busts them before a legitimate customer tries and can't use it. he has time to deal with it.
@@effscottfitz-gee2024 AFAIK they do. The issue is that the ADA, which is a federal law, does not have any mechanism for enforcement besides individual lawsuits. I think there's a lot of obvious reasons why that's not a good system, both for disabled people and businesses.
@@W4t3rf1r3 As a disabled person myself I found a very simple solution to issues I have encountered that is to inform the owner of the business and guess what its usually fixed the next time I go there. In all honesty lawsuits should be the last resort and for ADA I think that it should be required for the person to be a customer and if an issue is encountered have brought it up to the owner. Only if not fixed should a lawsuit be filed.
There should be some leeway for business owners in cases like this one to correct the problem before lawsuits come into play. It is pretty difficult to know every law. That is why lawyers specialize in particular fields. I doubt a sandwich shop could have major ADA violations unless the doorway was blocked or hindered entrance/exit of the business. So to go after a small business owner with a lawsuit seems a bit unreasonable. Especially considering another handicapped customer didn't see a problem with accessing/using the business.
There are people you can hire to come in and check for you. Handicaps differ from person to person. Hand powered vs. electric wheelchairs are very different. I've got a couple friends in electric chairs. Looking at that lip on the sandwich shop I'm still not sure one of them could get in. Chairs can be prone to tipping backwards. The reason they don't always give them the option to come into compliance is to serve as a warning to others, and that's why the law is that way... because if you don't businesses will look at the cost of making a repair and just wait until someone complains. Game theory- Cost if you don't get caught= 0, Cost if you do get caught= Cost of repair. Which option do you choose? Now, if you change it to Cost if you don't get caught=0, Cost if you do get caught= a fine or lawsuit plus the cost of the repair. That changes the math. Someone like this can go down a street, file a few lawsuits, and everyone on that street will try to get into compliance. Everyone on all the streets around it will try to get in compliance. Now, that other part of the ledger can be code enforcement going around to every building and checking and issuing fines (insert joke about how easy it is to bribe the code enforcement guy here) or you can let a private citizen do it. Unlike the code enforcement guy their motivation is to find problems. A code guy is there for the paycheck and to hopefully not screw anything up so bad he gets fired or arrested when a building burns down. Now, if I walk into a store and see a safety issue I just tell the store, but I'm not making safety or ADA compliance my day job. This guy does. I actually personally know someone who does this. He sued the city where he used to live to bring their mass transit system into ADA compliance (he won). Hiring lawyers is expensive. Even lawyers who are doing it for social justice have to eat. This story is way too light on details. They talked to the stores but couldn't be bothered to ask what compliance issues they fixed? Or stop by any of the other stores and ask them what compliance issue they had and if they fixed it? I mean, yes, he is suing for money. If you want to call it a shakedown though it's pretty easy, but time consuming, to look into it. The lawsuits are all on file. Look them up and see what the complaints were. Go to those businesses and see if they are now in compliance. If he's running a shakedown he'll almost certainly take the money and run. If, on the other hand, all the compliance issues have been fixed he is at least getting things fixed. You still don't know his personal motivations. That would take a deeper investigation into how much it costs him to do all of this. Some people see this as a crusade and are in it to fix things. If you are rich and can afford to fund it all yourself then you don't need to collect money, but if you arent?
@@nacoran Thanks very much for explaining this so thoroughly. As I said elsewhere, these store owners have had decades to bring their establishments into compliance. Do they get a free warning on fire-code violations? What about food safety violations? The law is the law, and has been since 1990. Anyone who wanted to comply has had ample time to do it. Anyone who hasn't is a scofflaw playing the odds, as you've explained so clearly.
if it all comes from just one person seems like an easy fix to me, just have the businesses chip in some money and hire a few handy people from our neighbor city Oakland....
You clearly haven’t been following the story. This POS just rolls by a spot looks inside and then rolls away, then the biz gets served with a lawsuit and they won’t let the people correct the infractions.
This is how you can tell they don’t have the Mob in that area. If he tried to hit up one Mob front, his career would come to an abrupt end. He might still be around, but he’d have completely lost interest in being a “tester.”
An ADA tester should not be able to personally benefit from any violations found. They should be an employee of the state or local government, where the government can put pressure on the business for appropriate corrections, as could be expected by the type of business, where it is located, and it’s size. Many federal laws do not apply to very small businesses, which the law defines. He is no tester, this serial litigant found a disabled-friendly means of scoring big bucks. He’s not alone and there are many not- disabled people, who take advantage of the easy ways of suing others. America, where lying and committing fraud is the National pastime.
If you knew about the history of the ADA you would know that it was designed to work with people suing businesses. The Republicans that supported the ADA didn't want the government enforcement. They didn't want government inspectors going after businesses. If the government was enforcing it then there would be many more violations against businesses and they wouldn't have had 31 years of time to follow the law.
788 cases since 2014.....That's at least 2 cases filed a week since then. How is that not enough evidence for serial litigation or being vexatious? Is an ADA tester a job?
@@quackss6384 That as may be. Not all disabled are looking for a big payday. Some of us just want to wake up and get through the day, rinse, repeat. Personally, I set my own bar pretty low.
I've been in the rehab Mobility industry for three decades and this stuff happens more than you think. People tend to give others in wheelchairs the benefit of the doubt when the fact the matter is these people in wheelchairs are the same as any of us they just have one physical disability. They have personalities and mental and emotional issues just like we all have.
@@aigtrader2984 : I should have added California judges to that because the federal bench in Ninth Circus is a woke joke with more reversals than any other circuit. Between that and state laws that make thefts below $950 a misdemeanor, it's tough enough to run a business even without a Marxist punk DA like Chesa Boudin, who was raised by terrorists while his cop murdering parents were in prison and who tends to not prosecute crimes brought to him to an extent that criminals have little or no fear of prosecution. So, yes, you're right that Ninth Circuit judges should be included with California lawmakers and local DAs not giving a shit about small businesses. Thanks for pointing that out.
@@ricfax California judges? The 9th circuit includes Utah, Nevada, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, and Arizona and is served by more judges appointed by Republicans than by Democrats. And if people want relief from their judgment they can appeal to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court reverses more cases from the 9th Circuit because it’s the largest circuit and here’s the most cases. Get a new adjective because using the word Woke is a sad argument in place of facts.
@@timmacsweet1 : While missing the basic point that businesses in woke California cities face challenges that are causing many to close or move, you're off picking at nits. Bless your heart.
@@ricfax and you’re missing the point that the ninth circuit isn’t the liberal bastion you purport it to be since it’s composed of more judges nominated by R’s than D’Souza. And for the second time calling a city, a person, a state, or an entire judicial circuit “woke” is not an argument. It’s lazy and trite. Serial litigants are a problem in all states and California has the oldest vexation litigation laws in the US. So the state government has laws to thwart these lawsuits but people always find a way to subvert the law until a new law is created. But you have nothing to say about big law firms essentially extorting small businesses. These are the same big law firms that fight the states and federal government to keep litigation reform from becoming law. And let me tell you these big law firms aren’t “woke” as you would say but just cutthroat capitalist shaking down small businesses. But to you everything just comes down to everyone being too “woke”. You sound like a broken record. It’s like a believer that states that everything that they don’t like is the work of the devil. The woke schtick is wearing thin.
Bottom line is that this one person is attacking small businesses that are more likely to settle than fight such a lawsuit. Add to that it is setup so that he benefits whether there is a real problem or not because as it is described most of these businesses can only afford to settle versus pursue the litigation. So that he consistently is paid for each business that rolls over for him and settles. As the one handicapped gentleman who patronizes the one business he himself in a wheelchair can not find where the business owner has not sought to make his business accessible. It is a scam especially when you find one law firm filing all of these suits and then looking for settlements rather than havng the businesses meet ada accessibility guidelines. BTW I am in a wheelchair myself and I am ashamed that this person is doing this to these business owners just to scam them.
No small business should be forced to make their establishment handicap accessible . Regulating new builds to be accessible is understandable. But forcing small businesses to retrofit a business can be very costly. They can always go somewhere else. ADA needs to make some changes that regard these small businesses and that would eliminate all these frivolous suits.
I call BS for people suing to force them to be compliance. They have city code, sue the city for not making them compliance. Not your job. They just trying to get rich.
Both my parents were in wheelchairs for many years. I can't tell you how many times I lifted my mother out of her chair and wrestled her into a bathroom stall, fought our way through department store aisles jammed full of merchandise and racks and bins, up and down steps or curbs etc etc. We never would have sued anyone! Shameful.
@@herculesbrofister265 that's no excuse to be rude. Small business owners should not be targets they have razor thin profit margins. I didn't even sue the school district that wouldn't accommodate my insulin dependant kindergarten son. I educated them until they felt they could do the job.
@@herculesbrofister265 Progress also rarely happens through vengeance and spite, it's more often through a mutual agreement and compromise. Rosa Parks is just a figure among many others at the time, the only reason she gets remembered is because of her emotional impact but as far as real change, it was put through by others who were willing to work with people.
There’s a lot of scammers who take advantage of these types of laws. It’s not just ADA. This is old news. This is why you don’t do business in your personal name aka sole proprietorship. Businesses use corporations such as an LLC, limited liability company to protect themselves. You can only sue the separate entity and not your personal assets. There’s ways to even set it up so that your business shows no assets or profits so it’s not worth suing even in small claims court because the person suing will have court fees and legals fee in excess of what they can get so it’s not worth it. The easy targets are small mom and pop businesses who have sole proprietorships. And no you can’t fight it until the laws changes. Unfortunately they will need to pay to settle because fighting it will cost 3 times more.
I used to work at a factory wish very dangerous equipment everywhere, we got fined because a new door didn’t have a brail exit sign on it! My boss said “I guarantee a blind man will never be in this building trying to find an exit door down here.” There should be some kind of common sense clause for some of this stuff.
It's crap attitudes like yours that lead to getting sued for non compliance. You can't be serious, bro. We're not talking about alcoholic hobos who refuse to get a job.
@@travismiller5548 you're right! I even heard the disabled guy had no plans of suing those hundreds of businesses he'd never visited in person. That is, until, one day, he noticed some bad attitudes in TH-cam comment sections. Of course then he sued everybody bc what the heck else CAN he do?
Wheelchair access isn't the only form of ADA accessibility. I had to call many Bay Area businesses for my deaf friend because they'd hang up on her calling service. The piece doesn't mention why he was filing the ADA complaince complaints, and visually implied it was all about wheelchair access. Bad news report.
The owner of the business probably doesn't own the building. They probably have a landlord. The landlord probably didn't design the building or build the building. The builder would have only built the building after they got the building plans approved by the city's codes department. Why would the city's codes department allow for non-ADA compliant buildings to be built? Does the city government not care about handicapped individuals? Seems like the city needs to be sued for approving all of those buildings
Happens everyday all over the country, i've seen it at least 10 times in my life , in NYC and in Florida.. The little food mart by my house got one and settled gave the guy 10k and same thing, he was working for a law firm , just going around looking for fowls .. they were repaving the handy cap entrance and he came towards the entrance wanted a news paper , they didn't respond to him fast enough , i guess , then got into an argument called the police and filed a report.. and filed suit ..i remember it cause no one had ever seen that guy in the neighborhood before and never have since.... those crooks tested their business , they failed.. they have a guy who works there who specifically goes out to help the handicap with their purchases even then, but eh the law is the law, even disability in America is scandalous ..
The serial ADA filer in Sacramento is Scott Johnson who is now being indicted for tax evasion, failing to report the money he extorts from business owners.
As a disabled person, I find Garcia & his shyster lawyers 700+ lawsuits offensive. If he was truly filing these lawsuits to further accessibility for the disabled he would put his settlements towards just that instead of making a buck off of it and claiming it was because he was a disability "tester"! To be honest, with as much money as this attorney has made off of Garcia's suing the mom and pop shops, he needs to hire a stylist!
I guess if you're in a wheelchair it's hard to slip and fall in the grocery store so this is the next best thing. Legitimate violations are worthy of forced compliance but milking the money cow should be prosecuted to.
If he’s a “tester” the money should go to benefit people with disabilities not his pockets or lawyers pockets.
Totally agreed! Funds collected by legitimate law breakers who haven't changed the offense should go to the ADA and not some single buthurt individual.
It takes some work to file all these suits, I respect his hustle. The benefit to the community is when the businesses actually meet the ADA standards.
He is disabled. The remedy does benefit the disabled. The suit does not name the disabled. It names himself.
@@ShainAndrews yeah because he is the one suing. Its a civil case, not a class-action lawsuit. JFC SMH
@@boss-anova No work is required on his part. The lawyers do it all and they take a cut. Its a big scam. The money should go organizations that benefit people with disabilities. Not a single person.
Seven hundred eighty-eight cases isn't an ADA tester, it's extortion.
Yeah this guy was also notorious in Stockton
@@kateysandon Hopefully he gets declared a vexatious litigant and his lawyer will have to go back to chasing ambulances.
Your anger is misdirected. Yes, I don't like the serial litigant, but the problem is with the way the law is written. The law itself needs to be changed. The litigant is filing legitimate lawsuits using a law that wasn't well written.
@@addanametocontinue that’s a great point! ❤️👍
@@addanametocontinue Nope, no individual should be able to just roll down the street and sue eveyone in sight because he wants to. People are afraid to speak out, its the same with racism. People bow down to the left because they are are afraid of ebing called out and the businesses need to stand up to people that violate the good intent of the law.
How is it this guy can have 700 cases, but his lawyer doesn't see the pattern?
Oh right, money.
His lawyer is probably behind it.
The lawyer basically said it's part of the disabled guys job to find people to sue
Lawyer is a different breed of ambulance chaser
Theyre a team…. 🤷🏻♂️
Did you really suggest his LAWYER should be his moral compass?
You peasants make me laugh.
He’s not trying to help other handicapped people.... he’s trying to get rich. And it’s working!! The fact that he has filed 700 cases in less than 10 years is outrageous!!
That's quite literally what his 'job' is, he's testing the compliance of companies, frivolous or not that's something someone has to do otherwise there's limited ways that compliance can be checked outside of random 'raids' of companies assumed to be lacking compliance with someone who is disabled in the ways the raid is hoping to test.
@@crlcan8121 If he's testing compliance why is is only testing the smaller companies and not the larger ones. Also why doesn't he say to the companies your not ADA compliance and give them the chance to fix any issues instead of going straight to court.
When I had a problem with a store here in the UK. I spoke to the manager and a few days later met with the owner over a cup of tea and the issue was fixed.
@@Westcountrynordic There is one simple reason for going after small businesses. Volume. Look at the street in the news story. It is a row of small businesses with a door to a business only a few feet away from the next business. A “tester” can enter, document and leave in a matter of minutes making it easy to get dozens of interactions in just a few hours. It could take all day to inspect/test a high rise building with dozens of floors and rooms. Each floor must have a minimum of handicap bathroom stalls available. You might assume that every bathroom is identical, but that is not necessarily so. A huge corporate headquarters could be a Labyrinth of floors and offices and much of it with limited access. Are they testing only for areas where the public is allowed? That is a fraction of the building in most cases. It is a long way between big offices like that if you are in a wheelchair, further limiting possible infractions. The “tester” may even have to enter and exit his/her vehicle several times. With help I am sure.
It looks like only mobility handicaps are being tested. What about seeing or hearing impaired? I am mobility impaired but not in a wheelchair. Sometimes I can only walk short distances before my lower back starts hurting. Other times I can go a little longer.
Soon after the ADA was passed, small businesses had to spend money to redo bathroom facilities, aisles, and other problems. I worked at a business that had only one bathroom for a dozen or so employees and customers that could vary dramatically. The owner wanted to remodel, but refused to because she couldn’t remodel without having to make everything ADA compliant. I knew another business that had to completely redo their bathrooms.
@@enid0mom Nothing to do with the fact that large businesses will more likely have money to fight and a legal department. On another point why go straight to legal action why not give the owners a chance to at least try and address any issues. I get that there may be things needed doing and the "tester" is doing good by highlighting them but to go straight to legal action is a bit questionable to me.
I have had issues where access has been a problem but a talk to the owner normally gets things done, If not a call to local council who will give the business a 60 day notice to fix the problem has solved it
Want to know the problem with the logic of saying "it's a scam"? If they were in compliance with the *federal laws* then he would have no case. Small businesses in particular are horrible at adhering *to the laws* making life even more difficult for people who need that disability accomodation, because the small businesses think they're going to be okay flying under the radar or are exempt *from the laws*.
As for "why not larger businesses" most larger businesses aren't going to allow a random disabled person access to their complexes unless you have an actual reason to be there. Disabled workers need to file their own cases if they see fit, and they often do if the company refuses their reasonable requests. I can't see Boeing allowing some random dude off the street into their manufacturing or office spaces for example. For front facing side of their businesses, especially on retail like a big department store or franchise restaurants like McDonald's they more or less do follow compliance laws because it's mandated by corporate policy. IE the bigger businesses are on the radar and are more often monitored, and when something does pop up they do get taken to task for it. The bigger the corp the farther they go to prevent potential lawsuits or governmental fines. Workers who don't grant accomodations and get caught are retrained, punished, or fired, even if it's as simple as making sure the customer gets that sugar free soda they asked for rather than saying "sorry we can't replace it once it's been served" and sending the customer into diabetic hell. You don't get that as often with smaller businesses depending on how they're run.
The ADA department in the DOJ pursues these cases and investigates on their own. They will be the ones to enforce compliance. Stop assuming that the guy is a scammer, it doesn't take a genius to do some research on the subject. There is an mailing list you can subscribe to at the DOJ website that will dump these cases and their resolutions into your email each week. You'd be surprised at how many businesses think they can get away with not adhering TO THE LAWS (Oh right, did I mention the ADA is a FEDERAL LAW? A scam is throwing yourself under a bus. Not making sure people ADHERE TO THE LAWS THAT ARE ALREADY IN PLACE), what would shock you is how many *schools* try to get away with screwing over a disabled child. And if you think 700 cases is bad in one city, imagine what hell it is for disabled Americans in other countries when we don't even get the bare minimum when we expect reasonable accomodations. I *wish* Britain would adopt something like the ADA because a lot of businesses and owners of older "historical" buildings don't even pretend to be disabled accomodating and you get petty elected bureaucrats, not trained social workers, deciding whether or not your illness is "good enough" for what few disability accomodation entitlements there are. And despite people's assurances here to the contrary, the UK is pretty terrible about enforcing accomodations. If you need more idea of what it's like, Jessica Kelgren-Fozard is a disabilty activist in the UK and has tons of youtube videos about accomodation in the UK.
He keeps filing because everyone keeps settling with him. I’m glad that these business owners are standing up to him and taking it to court because otherwise he’s just going to keep doing it and keep getting rich off of business owners.
@Jack W I wonder if "kneecapping" would work? 🤔🤣
The reason why business owners always settle is because the law requires the business owner to pay the complainant's legal fees if the complainant wins. (As well as his own, of course.) This creates a virtual no-win situation for the business owner. The only way the business owner can really fight the case is if he was in full 100% compliance at the time of the inspection. Otherwise, he will not only have to pay the $4000 civil penalty, he'll have to pay the complainant's attorneys fees as well.
So the options for the business owner are: [1] cough up the $4,000 immediately, or [2] litigate it, and end up paying the $4,000 anyway, *_plus_* tens of thousands of additional dollars in legal fees, both for himself and for the complainant.
While I strongly favor the award of attorney's fees in consumer protection cases (and most other cases as well), in the case of ADA violations, the better approach would be to allow the business a chance to correct the violation before having to pay a $4,000 penalty to a complainant who hasn't actually suffered any loss. A small sandwich shop owner is not going to be an expert on all the technical details of precisely where he has to put the toilet paper dispenser and how low a countrop has to be, etc.
If the business refuses to make the corrections within, say 60 or 90 days, *_then_* the complainant could sue and collect attorneys fees on top of the penalty. That would vindicate the disabled community's rights without unreasonably burdening small business owners.
Anyone with a even a small piece of brain knows what this is! This is a shakedown!
Kinda like Biden's Mandates.
This is a common shakedown in most large cities. I remember hearing of a similar situation in Manhattan 20 years ago
Sounds like it is time for a Class Action lawsuit against the Law Firm filing the nuisance suits
@@Hsaffff can libtards ever have a conversation?? Wait no, they're too busy race baiting and using the struggles of POC for their own benefit :)
@Jake Hiser ZOMG is that Reddit GOLD?!
That jerk is making bank of the backs of hard working people!!! I can tell by some of the comments that most of you don’t own a business. When you work 16 hours a day and some low life legally steals your money then you can come back and make a comment
Suing is just fine if you really have been wronged by uncaring inconsiderate and irresponsible people, then you might deserve restitution but just using serial lawsuits as a source of income to get rich is an ABUSE of a system meant to compensate people who have truly been wronged.
@Biden Bites I see that you do not believe in the rule of law.
@@paintingworlds Ah yes, “rule of law”. Like when the law said Blacks weren’t fully human or segregation was legally enshrined. Or Nazi zoning laws that forced Jews into ghettos.
When man made laws finally hit rock bottom, Sharia law will save this nation.
First off let’s talk about your damn state, they don’t give a shit about businesses to begin with. 2nd off The guy did say the business did have minor violations, so the companies did violate the law. So they deserve it just like the state.
@Kevin Minn Most disabled people can still work. There's jobs that don't require standing. He's just a sack of garbage that wants other people's money. Disabled people should be accommodated, but that's not his goal, money is.
Change the fines to be donated to a charity or fund and see how quick the lawsuits stop
Exactly!
First how do you select a charity or fund? How do you keep that selection process from influence and a charity or fund receiving preferential treatment? Do you think an individual could set up a charity or fund to receive all the proceeds from all lawsuits? ADA laws are not new. A business can just as easily audit themselves. If you want change then lobby for a remedy period. People like you never think more than one step ahead.
@@ShainAndrews They said in the news story that California allows the litigants to keep the fine money, and that's likely the reason that there are so many suits like this in California. Other states clearly have a way to enforce compliance without incentivizing unscrupulous litigants from treating the ADA like a slot machine.
Or the lawsuit stipulated funds used to correct the deficiencies such a make wider doors, add ramps, lower counters… etc.
That's not how lawsuits work, communist. I liked that one guy's idea of giving them so many days to remedy the situation before the lawsuit can go forward.
Should be able to just use his previous lawsuits as evidence that he’s frivolously suing people for quick payouts
Its not frivolous if the violations really exist. This news story doesn't emphasize the fact that these stores were violating the law. Small minor things but still a violation. Blame our never ending ADA laws and how strictly they are enforced (Nationwide).
Potter Handy should be investigated independently. I have no idea why integrity, morality and common sense are not required for attorneys.
$$$
The worst example EVER was when families of the Aurora CO. theater shooting sued the theater chain for not providing 'security'.
Courts have held time and again that a public business has only certain duties to 'protect'.
It was a slam dunk Loss for the families suing.
In Colorado - the loser of a civil lawsuit pays for the winners court/legal costs.
These attorneys took them on as clients KNOWING they would lose.
Then the story comes out how the families had to mortgage homes, etc to pay these costs.
Of course that was a nice talking point gained, boohoo - they lost everything against a big corporation and evil gun manufacturers...but all attorneys walked away with filled pockets.
Disgusting...
Because there wouldn't be any.
Because they're not on the Bar Exam.
That's mostly because the people who are attorneys don't have integrity or morality. 😂
it is but sadly they also know how to skate the line and with this ADA lawsuit racket they do only hit small business who don't have the money to fight it in court.... Pay 5k or 10k to settle or spend 20k fighting. I personally know of 5 place near me on the same street who were all hit within days of each other by this duce
I'd say 700 suits is worthy evidence of a pattern.
He hasn't targeted one business owner.
@@button1ginger1 He has targeted small businesses in general, and accepted settlements in most cases without verifications etc. Vexation would not be as hard as people say but it would cost money. Someone needs to be the philanthropist for the neighborhood and go after him.
@@button1ginger1 I'd be interested to know if he has gone after companies like Walmart, Target, Starbucks, companies with large fully funded legal staffs. If he hasn't and the businesses he is suing are just smaller / family owned then that would be enough proof for me.
They don't go after large corporations because large corporations build their facilities to meet ada requirements.
Well, 700 successful suits would show a pattern of non-compliance by businesses. But I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the ‘pattern’ you were trying to imply.
The definition of grift. Hitting these small mom and pop shops after Covid is downright criminal. But am I surprised in the Bay? Not a chance.
Happens everywhere sadly. A place I worked at got served for not having an ADA friendly website… ridiculous
@@alexjones1017 happens everywhere in America. Not much of these nonsense lawsuits elsewhere
It’s actually happening here in LA
The firm targets the Bay cuz they know they will get run outta San Diego as crooks if they did any of this malicious criminal activity to local businesses.
I’ve been in my chair for 20 years and have never even thought about suing a small business. Most business owners are happy to accommodate me if I needed anything. This guy is definitely wrong. So crazy.
Yeah, but this guy is obviously more important than you, silly.
@Donald Thorpe, That is a pathetic excuse to absolve the guy of any and all guilt.
@@justinmartin4662 You would make a stupid comment like that Justin. Keep trolling.
@Donald Thorpe, No. You are trying to shift the blame from Garcia onto the law. Garcia is using the law to extort people and to try to blame the law for Garcia's actions instead of Garcia is pathetic and not placing the blame on Garcia where it belongs.
Is Garcia abusing the law? Yes. Therefore the blame lays squarely on Garcia's shoulders no matter how much to try to twist it otherwise. Absolving Garcia the way you are trying to do by blaming the law instead of Garcia smacks of leftist thinking and ideology.
@Donald Thorpe, "Take responsibility" That is a pathetically hypocritical comment coming from you considering you are trying to absolve Garcia of taking any responsibility for his abuse of the system. But then again that what leftists like you do, always blame others for what you are responsible for.
Now considering this takes place in California and Democrats run California and you sound like a Democrat, that makes your comment all the more hypocritical.
I’m disabled and I’m saying this guy is a grifter. If it was truly about ADA access, he would approach the business owners and ask them to correct the issues - opening up accessibility to all patrons.
I hope these business owners win and the man can no longer extort from hard-working men and women.
Certainly, being an a$$ about it isn't helping in the long run. If this gets pushed to the current conservative Supreme Court, this California provision could create a category of vexatious law, if not of vexatious litigation itself. This is supposed liberal philosophy gone plain mean.
Why does he have to talk to the business owner about complying with the law? If you sue me because I am breaking the law…you can bet I am going to correct that in a hurry….maybe even just because I don’t want to be sued again?
Why should you or I have to ask people to obey the law? It's the law.
@@deborahschumann8286 : Usually, before you sue somebody, you make a *demand* first. That's how it's normally done. But of course, that doesn't put money in the serial filer's pockets, does it?
_"If you sue me because I am breaking the law, you can bet I'm going to correct that in a hurry."_
But in the vast majority of cases, the business owner will correct the problem in a hurry _anyway,_ without anyone suing anyone. But again, that doesn't put money in the sue-er's pockets, does it?
@@pjaypender1009 : The problem is that these serial ADA filers are suing over minor technical violations of obscure regulations that no one other than professional lawsuit filers even know about. They prey on small businesses because they're easy targets. Invariably the complaint is that a countertop is an inch too high or a faucet in the restroom is an inch too low or a store aisle is an inch too narrow.
These are not "real" violations that have any impact on the lives of disabled people. They're just technical violations that create a payday for predatory ADA filers who take advantage of unsophisticated small businesses who aren't familiar with the thousands of pages of hypertechnical ADA regulations that no one outside the professional ADA compliance industry would even be aware of, let alone understand.
If you're really concerned about the well-being of disabled people, their needs could just as effectively be met by requiring a complainant to notify the business owner of the problem and allowing him or her a reasonable period of time to bring the business into compliance. And saving thousands of dollars in unnecessary automatic $4,000 fines and attorney's fees in the process.
I'm Disabled and in a wheelchair. But suing people in small business is ludicrous. But sometimes it's about the money
It’s ALWAYS about the money.
ALWAYS about the money. Any time somebody says "It's not about the money", rest assured that it's about the money.
I’m torn, its been the law for 30 years, they’ve had the opportunity to correct issues, at some point money is a motivator. It isn’t all that different than traffic violations.
@@ALD56 YEP!!!
@@JordanHaisley it’s not that simple to be 100% compliant with every law. For one, the aspects of the regulation underlying the law may change over time, but just think about your own life. Do you believe you follow all laws and regulations 100% of the time? If not, is it likely that you have major violations, or is it more likely that you would have minor violations (as these businesses)?
make it a fix it ticket instead, get rid of the money settlement incentive if that disabled person really cared about accessibility
So you really believe that if you reduce the penalty to a "fix-it ticket", in a capitalist society stores would not be incentivized to just say screw it, I won't do anything until someone finally pointed out at which point I'll get a slap on the hand so why bother making accommodations now? That's not how Americans think or work.
Fix-it tickets is for criminal cases, ADA cases are civil.
@@aigtrader2984 oh yes pay $50,000 or fix it for $5,000 or settle for $10,000 oh yes i bet a business would get a $25 ticket to fix it
@@aigtrader2984 if they get fined by the city, they will be incentivized to fix problems
@@iLife64 Fix it tickets are for infractions
You're missing the point, the disabled guy is just a partner, the attorney is the true litigant. I doubt if the disabled guy has ever been to Alameda.
Tom Condon not real quick on the uptake there are ya
@@suedeB05 Your comment seems to imply that the characteristics you accuse me of, are your own. OR, you just failed to say anything tangible. I was qui k on the uptake 25 years ago when an attorney/ disabled person team made the same attempt.
@@tomcondon6169 Yawn.
Either manfly is intentionally forgetting that this “law” is the CA version of the ADA which allows a plaintiff to get up to $4000 per violation or suit-something the federal ADA doesn’t allow, as stated in this video-or he has willfully ignored the stories of serial litigants and law firms that have filed hundreds of lawsuits if this type, not just in CA but in states like Florida. It’s just worst in CA because of the separate ability for plaintiffs to collect.
Someone like this guy from Florida has sued a bunch of colorado businesses too. No one can show he has ever been in Colorado, which has allowed some businesses to get the suits dismissed.
If a business is not complying, and its informed, why isn't the entity given time to correct the issue?
If i get a ticket for a defective stop light, go to court, show the light has been fixed, the ticket is dismissed.
I understand the purpose of the ADA, but something here is totally wrong.
Along the same lines, are all of these businesses actually not complying with ADA requirements? If they truly are not, then doesn’t this guy have a valid case? If there really are hundreds and hundreds of businesses not in compliance, isn’t that a sign of an even bigger problem? Why is this guy a bad guy for suing to get these problems corrected?
This seems to be like someone driving down the road like a bat out of hell then complaining when they get a speeding ticket. Stop speeding and you won’t get a ticket. Stop violating ADA and you won’t get sued. Why is everyone missing this simple point?
@@OrdinaryDude67 - Do you know what all the "violations" are? What if it is a torn piece of rubber weatherstripping sticking out on a door that technically makes the doorway too narrow? The business goes back to being compliant by simply trimming the rubber strip - but this guy's lawyers are demanding $1000 or $5000 for them to drop the suit.
@@OrdinaryDude67 - Its because a lot of small businesses are in older non-compliant buildings that would cost a fortune to comply with the ADA. You will put these businesses out of business. How would you like it if I came into your home and required it to comply with the ADA? Believe it or not, there are organizations that want you to do that and eventually I expect to see it in California. It got so bad that I told people to NOT purchase an older property because it would cost more to comply than to build new. For example - there are organizations that want a completely handi-capped individual in a wheel chair to be able to roll his wheel chair onto a roller coaster like at Universal Studios in Orlando. This is nuts because these people probably would not survive the ride, but these organizations don't care!!!
@@rickd1412 I understand, but eventually these buildings need to be upgraded to comply. The ADA was enacted in 1990. It’s been 31 years.
Also, that’s a bit of a bad analogy. If you get work done on your house by a professional, licensed contractor they are required to bring everything they work on up to current code. Frequently that entails additional cost to the homeowner, but that’s just the way it is. Part of doing the work includes proper inspections by the appropriate inspection agency. If the work is improperly done then it should be failed and re-done properly.
I’m not saying this guy isn’t a lawsuit troll, but doesn’t it make you stop and think how after 31 years there are still so many business out of compliance?
@@OrdinaryDude67 you see, there's the issue. As stated before, some of these buildings are incredibly old, and long predate the ADA, and were made exempt due to the time, effort, and resources required for them to become compliant. We're not talking about just installing a ramp and calling it a day btw, we're talking about widening hallways and doorways, modifying bathrooms, etc.
Then there's the work itself, who gets to do it? Odds are the people who wrote the law know of only a few that can do it, and wrote it specifically for them so they could make the money. And if you go to the wrong company, you could still be in violation because the wrong company performed the work.
If a company has an ADA violation, they should be given a chance to correct it, before they have to show up in a court room. Just like if I have a tail light out, I should be given a chance to get it repaired before the police call someone to tow my vehicle away for noncompliance (this assumes firat strike obviously)
This person came after a small a family restaurant/bar business in my area in Sonoma County; way outside of their area. It was said he wasn't even there to order food, just passing through to find businesses to extort _ahem_ file a lawsuit for ADA updates. The business didn't have a button to push that'd open the bar door. There was access not requiring a button by going around the side. It costs more money fighting it than settling with small businesses, which appears to be the real M.O..
This business was later flooded by a huge winter rainstorm that caused thousands in damages. How they stayed alive, especially after/during the pandemic, has got to have been because the owners are loved by the community and keep showing up for them. I want equal access for those with disabilities, but a singular person filing serial lawsuits sounds too intentional and predatory. The law should change to a certain capacity.
@James Simpson idk but the bar/restaurant had been around since the 50s and my understanding is that the button was 1 of many things pointed out but that one stuck out in my memory the most.
@James Simpson they also did comply with updating the building but they were still hit financially with the lawsuit... so there lays the problem. If it was a "fix it and we'll drop the suit" that'd be great for both parties, but it was not that!
If he’s a tester then why isn’t the ADA suing them instead of this man doing it for personal gain?
Exactly. He’s not appointed to test these places, he’s targeting them and using a private law firm to represent. 100% about profit. If they agreed to pay with clauses that said he wouldn’t personally receive any money, I’m sure his lawsuits would dry up fast
ADA is the name of a law not a person or agency. The law is just a tool, it cannot act on its own.
@@Karen-pk3uv it’s ran by the justice department. Which is made up of attorneys.
@@Mexican_Marauder The Americans with Disability Act is the name given to a group of regulations that stop people from being discriminated against. There are a few different federal departments that will ENFORCE the ADA, but they arent CALLED the ADA. You basically asked "why isn't the toolbox building the bookcase."
@@Karen-pk3uv yes…. And it’s regulated by the justice department. If it’s an “Act“ then how does he work for them? He didn’t say he worked for the DOJ. He said he works for the ADA.
a total shakedown - the man partnered up with an evil lawyer to make money
Evil lawyer? As opposed to the "heart of gold" lawyers? There is no such thing. If one ever did exist, they'd not have a very profitable business.
Or the lawyer found a stooge to make money off of...
He’s seems like the type of guy who’ll get up and walk at home.
Lol this is funny lol
Like the 'homeless' panhandler that walks a block away from their site and gets into their Beamer
Ambulatory Wheelchair users exsist. Your joke is abilist and punches down at disabled people. Do better.
Would be great if the guy tried to extort a Mafia owned shop😅
Yep
How embarrassing for the disabled community who for the most part doesn’t act like this creep. I’ve used a wheelchair for 36 years since I was 15 and it never occurred to me to sue a business. If I thought it was too difficult to get around or I didn’t like the people I simply SWITCHED to another store.
As a disabled person if I had a problem I would bring it up politely with the owner and they would apologize and fix the issue by the time I next visited the business. Because they want people to come and buy their products.
It's obvious this man is in it for the money, not accessibility for the disabled. Pure greed.
@@johnree6106 Exactly! And they would also happily fix anything rather than being sued. They just need to know it's a problem and small businesses in particular would be very accommodating I'd imagine.
Or you ask the business owner to install something to make it easier to enter..
As a business owner, i cherish my customers.
You should not have patronize a different store. I may be unaware that my establishment is violating ADA.
Even without ADA, i would want to know my store is preventing a customer from entering.
I would fix the issue immediately.
He’s a very bitter individual, stuck in himself...
There needs to be a limit on how many times a person can initiate suits like this. The ability for a handicap person to maneuver in the world is not going to be improved by frivolous law suits.
@John C Do you think this guy and his lawyer are filing these lawsuits to make the world an easier place for handicap people to maneuver through? Or are they using the ADA to destroy other peoples livlihoods to make theirs?
My mom was in a wheel chair for over 28 years. I was her care giver. I'm not a layman to this issue.
I can't remember one place that didn't make accommodations for her. I think the night Chippendales came to town had to be her favorite. She said she could become accustomed to be carried around by beautiful men. Damn, I miss her. She was so fun.
His lawyer is so full of it. If Garcia was really about the message, he wouldn't be taking settlements and instead try to make change by going all the way with the cases. But I doubt he actually wants to go to court at all.
He couldn't even look straight into the camera. It's about the money.
Is he also suing the city for the homeless that are blocking the streets...
THAT is the LAWSUIT we need honestly. It'll help the most people
Amen brother!
10 BTC to make it all go away. Or name your price for a mass show.
@@ncrtransport5993 the city has been taking steps to get them into shelter they just do it. But yea the city needs to force them out of the street out this point
Did you watch the video because it did state that he was disabled and he’s suing restaurants and businesses that are not making their business accessible to disabled people what the hell does hummus people blocking traffic have to do with him if you have an issue with that how about you sue the city
This happened to my business about 15 years ago. The guy who sued was also someone who went around small shops to do the dirty work and the lawyer he used was popular among those ADA lawsuits. We ended up settling, but what cost a lot more was our lawyer fees. Thinking back now I feel both the disabled guy, his lawyer, and MY lawyer were scums. You live and you learn.
You should look up other businesses who got hit by him, you could do class action suit against the individual..if you can prove its just dirtywork.
So you think you should have been allowed to remain out of compliance indefinitely? Why aren’t you taking any responsibility for being out of compliance?
@Donald Thorpe how do you know they didn’t cause anyone any problems?
how much would it have cost you to bring your business into compliance before the plaintiff found you? Did you have to pay the settlement AND fix the store, or did the settlement allow you to avoid the fix? Thanks.
@Donald Thorpe That's not really true, Sir. My mother-in-law is 97 and living on a fixed income. When we come to stores I can't push her into, we just leave. We don't have the knowledge, funds, or time to launch a lawsuit. This guy is doing it for all the people like us, for quadriplegics who can't use their arms to get over the lip of the floor, and etc. Until the government enforces this, the plaintiff is the only game in town for people with disabilities.
There's always someone out there who will use the systems for personal gains, it's pathetic and is why we can never have anything good in life.
I'm actually surprised someone hasn't taken him out.
Yeah, like this is Sparta kick, right?
He's filed more than 700 lawsuits, I imagine you can find a pattern there without much effort. Both he and his lawyers should be ruled as vexatious.
Or the lawyers should be kneecapped. Then they can go do their own dirtywork.
Finding a minuscule portion of the numerous examples of non-compliance with federal law isn’t “vexatious”.
@@Vessekx I'm glad you support some useless eater and his conniving lawyer who do nothing but shakedown small business owners. I bet you're a great benefit to society as well.
@@Vessekx So lots of small businesses likely running out of small shops that are rented or have no easy way of changing the decades old building should be slapped with fine for one asshole who likely has never even set foot (well wheel) in the place? Yeah no....
@@SilvaDreams, guess what? If you’re *renting* the location, the *landlord* is responsible for those building improvements. But the business itself is responsible for most other accessibility issues.
This really isn’t difficult for anyone to understand who recognizes that people with disabilities are *people*, and have the same right to exist in public as everyone else.
Hats off to the small businesses for having the balls and fighting back 👏 👏 👏
This guy makes a comfortable living doing this stuff. He first surfaced in LA, driving around to find businesses that did not comply. Typically there were individual owners located in older structures that were categorically exempt due do size or location. He has even forced several businesses out of business with the fines and costs they suffered.
If they were exempt, they wouldn't have been fined. Wanna try again?
@@jackabug2475 If they do not have inside seating. If they do not have a public restroom. If they make other provisions, like bringing the food. If the building itself cannot accommodate a ramp, a 5' radius in the restrooms, they are exempt from certain ADA requirements according to the building code.
Then someone makes a federal case out of it. And who will say no to a helpless cripple? Yeah. It's like that. The guy is a jerk. And his lawyer is profiting off of the guy's handicap.
AND he will claim discrimination when the owner puts up a wheelchair-compatible porte-potty.
@@ricoludovici2825 cry harder
@@DennisMartinezCalifornia ignorant response. I bet when someone screws you over, you smile and spread your cheeks wider? Lmao.
Surprised someone didn’t roll up on him in l.a.
my city has changed.
"Somebody doesn't stand up and say enough is enough..." lol
😶
Guys like him make bad feelings for everyone who needs the ADA
vexatious indeed.
Someone needs to check if he's committing fraud himself. Like if he's receiving disability and living in subsidized housing, is he still paying a third of his income, including from the settlement funds.
Him and the lawyers are taking advantage of the other for sure.
Be careful he might sue you
Settlements aren't considered "income". They're "protected assets".
@@turkey1337 it would be very low for people who do settlements as income. Settlement can be taxable depend of the type.
Lol right? You wanna play this game?? 😂
As a disabled person in a wheelchair myself I give you permission to push this guy into the ocean
San Luis Obispo county had a man who was suing everyone over trivial things like grab bars being an inch too low or not having the right angle entry Ramps etc. a judge finally put a stop to his trivial lawsuits forbidding him to bring anymore of them!!!
@phillip miller LOL it's called trivial for a reason, My gawd yer a dweeb.
@John Thornton In your opinion.
@John Thornton Is that a question or a statement?🤷♂️
@John Thornton sO yOu HaTe DiSaBlEd PeOpLe hurrr durrr
@John Thornton hey Johnny boy what’s a “sslack”, I’ve never seen a word with a double s at the start like that before?
Here’s an idea. How about he gives the settlement back to the business to use to correct the issue. Seems like a solution to help all would be the important thing.
How about the bussines owners comply with federal law or continue to be sued?
@@redguy8941 I don’t care what business and in general with any code. If you go looking for a violation you’ll find one. You can find violations in new construction that was built to code. This guy has filed 700 lawsuits. I’m all for making sure businesses meet code. I have one family member in a wheel chair. My mom is also disabled. I have worked professionally with disabled people for 10 years. I want every place to be accessible but nitpicking small business owners does not help the situation. Chances are the vast majority of these businesses had no idea they weren’t in compliance and they’d gladly correct the issue. How does them paying money out which may hinder their ability to correct the issue help. Why isn’t the jurisdictional building inspectors not making note of these violations. It’s like a car when you get pulled over if the cop wants to pull out the motor vehicle code he will find a violation. If it’s a blatant violation yes that’s an issue but if it was a blatant violation code enforcement and people in the community would complain.
So the person who is being punished gets the money back? Sounds like a waste of time.
Fix the issue or get sued again. No reimbursement.
@@redguy8941 Well said!
Its these kinds of people that ruin it for everyone else… put him in prison and believe me bubba will find a way to get complete access to his ‘entryway’
I'm not sure your idea of justice is any less disturbing than the potential extortion we learned about in the video. You think because he may have taken advantage of the system, he should get raped?? Oof.
@@sarahwilhite3856 think of it as a metaphor for poetic justice.
@@jayjohn9680 You missed what I said entirely.
788 law suits from this man alone and he still get away with it?
As a small business owner not even giving me a chance to fix it would be so detrimental to my business. People think if someone has a business they're rich and for some that's not the case
As a small business owner are you unaware of the ADA? Are you unaware of health and safety laws? Are you unaware of tax laws affecting your operation? Or is compliance with applicable laws part of what it means to be a business person?
@@marthas8108 Are you even aware of the ADA laws yourself and the fact that many places can be exempt for MANY reasons. Most of those small shops can do little to actually comply because they rent the building and local building codes or even altering the building makes it impossible.
If you have isles of any kind they have to be a minimum of 5ft wide so a wheel chair and person can pass each other... In my store which is in an old building we have 3 isles and technically it might not pass because there isn't space to adjust stuff that much without making the isles themselves only like 3ft long.
@@SilvaDreams Right, so have you followed a process to get your store exempted?
I’ve personally worked on numerous jobs, where we had to raise countertops in restroom sinks literally 3/4”. Tore out a perfectly good countertop and sink to raise it 3/4”. There were numerous fixes like this I personally performed. They all came from a California lawyer. He advertises in publications read by folks in wheelchairs. He musta missed the classes in ethics. In my opinion.
Hey no, that's on the architect and building manager, accounting for the ADA is part of thier job. They fucked up.
These were older ADA sinks that didn’t meet the exact ‘specs’. It was a scam. One California law firm, and 6 or 8 jobs all around San Antonio Texas.
Raised? Usually it’s dropped.
What was the height? Over 34”?
We were 1/4" higher, inspector made us fix that
Nope, sounds like a bog standard lawyer to me.
I’m sure in his mind he thinks he’s fighting the system but really he’s hurting everyday people who are just trying to run an honest business. The money he’s taking is directly from their pockets not the governments.
No. He knows EXACTLY what he is doing. He is a d-bag.
A shake down, pure and simple.
Some people use the court system as a lottery. all it takes is a filing fee with the city clerk (usually under 30$)and presto! you have a lawsuit. they can pull the jackpot lever over and over. imagine having to go to court over and over becuase someone uses the court system as a weapon... people have no idea how easily it can be abused.
Ssshhhh! You're giving me ideas 😂😂😂 jk
You'd think a Judge would have noticed and deemed the environment too dangerous for the defendant and ordered him to be confined to his homefor his own safety
@@martinsaunders7925 Yeah and we should all be given free solid gold cars and unlimited food without cost! What you said sounds much more ridiculous than what I said.
@@martinsaunders7925 that's illegal dude. And unethical
@@JayPersing oh,and racketeering isn't?
Say his name. People with ADA do have morals but this guy is taking advantage of the system and California has allowed it. Same thing happened to the Vietnamese and some Indian restaurant that made awesome stuff. Shuttered it’s door because of these type of lawsuits. This is so bad
You can look him up on the internet considering how many cases he had filed
Orlando Garcia. Alfredo Garcia is a previous one.
These types of legal frameworks (bounty systems / private attorney general) are a poor substitute for simple regulation. Instead, we’ve created a cottage industry of lawyers and their disabled clients, who go around basically committing legal extortion.
If they were a "tester", they would inform the businesses of the infractions. Not just sue. Just look at proper 1st amendment testers. They inform the officers of the law to allow them to correct their actions before filing a lawsuit.
Being disabled, the law is right. There should be an ♿ compliance for all who need it. However, there are NO financial damages suffered by the complainant. Protect the small business. The plaintiff needs a mental hospital or anger management.
The plaintiff and his lawyer need prison.
Any violations and should handled by the local building dept or health dept.
Pretty soon it will be impossible to run a business in California, especially in the Bay area.
Its already impossible...in most major cities.
"'You will own nothing and be happy"
Can’t be that impossible if California is the 5th largest economy in the world
@@RyanAnthonyDigitalMedia Why are companies leaving California? Heard of a small company called Tesla?
@@imjoekang still 5th largest economy in the world, with or without your precious Tesla lol
This happened to a guy I know that had retired, but bought an oil-change franchise for some supplemental income. A man in a wheel chair came in and asked to use the restroom. Normally they don't allow customers to use the restroom, but they made an exception for him BECAUSE he was in a wheel chair. Not long after they got slapped with a law suit.
Plumbing code requires a public restroom in businesses.
@@danlab99 Not all businesses are required to have public restrooms. Especially those that are small and don't serve food.
@@norwegianblue2017 You're wrong. Where I live we use the international plumbing code which states that all businesses are required to have a restroom and it has to be open to the public.
@@danlab99 😂
@@danlab99 depends on local regulations. But nothing at all like that around here.
Attorney should be turned into the State Bar
Yes, for doing their job. It's literally their job to represent the client.
If “civil rights violations” settlements and fines all went to community equity instead of the pockets of individuals, it would mean a lot more to underserved communities. But America is an individualist, “me first” society… even for the individual minority group member.
It takes community to make change and better the country.
To say "this is the American way" is not at all to say it is a good way. This isn't even liberal. It's a caricature of liberal.
A $4,000 fine per business, most of which goes to attorneys and court costs isn’t all that much, and importantly it gives the person who filed the law suit some reimbursement for their time.
@@JordanHaisley that’s $4,000 under California law… on top of the $75,000+ under federal law. Equity should never be a for-profit enterprise.
Harm to a community should be compensated. The current ADA is more about individual wealth than accessibility for all.
"Active ADA tester"...more like "shakedown artist".
Unfortunately this has been going on solid in Ca for over 10 plus years. Sadly all lawmakers have done zero to protect their constituents
Why would they. They are not making any money off it. It doesn’t affect them.
The businesses are noncompliant and should be fined since they refuse to address ADA issues. They know the laws and refuse to follow the law. Fix the issues and there wouldn’t have a problem.
It’s been happening since the McDonald’s lady burnt herself like an idiot lol
@Persian Sicario What makes you think a Judge has anything to do with it? Is comprehension not your thing?
@@CAC6363 Ever study that case? You realize that went before a jury?
filing BS lawsuits by plaintiff should be subject to punitive measures
As if small businesses haven’t had enough trouble since March 2020. Greedy, hateful man filing suits.
My father was a small business owner twice, I myself was one too as a teen (vending machines), things like this are why we both ended up with govt jobs.
Yep. Being a lazy and worthless government worker pays far better than taking risk and actually contributing to society. Atlas Shrugged in real life today.
@@DadMouse lol you just jelly they got a pension and make more without breaking thier back, too bad thier only issues is how to keep fit since they sit all day
Shame on him. Using the system. You know what they said about the boy who cried wolf…..
But the businesses did have ada infractions...
All the gun violence and they can’t hit a person that can’t move, what a shame
Exactly. This Garcia guy is a criminal and needs to be treated like one.
They're in CA, not texas or florida aka the brazils of the US
@@herculesbrofister265 it states in the article it’s California, this man is heartless not stupid
Working as a plumber in a brand new golds gym a couple decades ago and Ada compliance made the owners put a wheelchair ramp up to the treadmill platform.
Yes you read that right.
Wheelchair ramps aren’t just for wheelchairs. I’m a crutch user and yes, I can get onto and walk on a treadmill by holding onto it. I’m also visually impaired with messed up depth perception.
Single leg amputee could use their wheelchair to get up there and then train with a prosthetic leg. Lots of veterans with legs blown off.
Don’t pay these people off! Work together to FIGHT IT.
if the law says their door needs to be so wide then how would going to court help if its not?
Businesses should meet ADA standards. End of story.
@@boss-anova these same news stories have been reported for a long time. 10 years from now buisness will complain if they get caught still.
@@frankyflowers absolutely. Businesses tend to do everything illegal to save money then look to the community for help when they get caught and get in trouble. Its pathetic.
@@boss-anova its really better if this habitual litigant goes there and busts them before a legitimate customer tries and can't use it. he has time to deal with it.
6000 cases in 2020, 788 by one person and he's "a tester."
I’m not sure I’ve even visited that many businesses throughout my entire life. This guy clearly goes around looking for this stuff.
He hasn't even been to most of the businesses he is suing.
Their are always a few jerks that want to ruin it for everyone else.
Sounds like someone isn't just satisfied living off the taxpayer's dime.
The problem with the ADA is that it has no enforcement mechanism *except* individuals filing lawsuits.
This is a good take
Does California not have builder inspectors or building codes?
@@effscottfitz-gee2024 AFAIK they do. The issue is that the ADA, which is a federal law, does not have any mechanism for enforcement besides individual lawsuits. I think there's a lot of obvious reasons why that's not a good system, both for disabled people and businesses.
@@W4t3rf1r3 As a disabled person myself I found a very simple solution to issues I have encountered that is to inform the owner of the business and guess what its usually fixed the next time I go there. In all honesty lawsuits should be the last resort and for ADA I think that it should be required for the person to be a customer and if an issue is encountered have brought it up to the owner. Only if not fixed should a lawsuit be filed.
Folks like this make it more difficult to file for the rest of us when it’s legitimate
There should be some leeway for business owners in cases like this one to correct the problem before lawsuits come into play. It is pretty difficult to know every law. That is why lawyers specialize in particular fields.
I doubt a sandwich shop could have major ADA violations unless the doorway was blocked or hindered entrance/exit of the business. So to go after a small business owner with a lawsuit seems a bit unreasonable. Especially considering another handicapped customer didn't see a problem with accessing/using the business.
There are people you can hire to come in and check for you. Handicaps differ from person to person. Hand powered vs. electric wheelchairs are very different. I've got a couple friends in electric chairs. Looking at that lip on the sandwich shop I'm still not sure one of them could get in. Chairs can be prone to tipping backwards.
The reason they don't always give them the option to come into compliance is to serve as a warning to others, and that's why the law is that way... because if you don't businesses will look at the cost of making a repair and just wait until someone complains. Game theory- Cost if you don't get caught= 0, Cost if you do get caught= Cost of repair. Which option do you choose?
Now, if you change it to Cost if you don't get caught=0, Cost if you do get caught= a fine or lawsuit plus the cost of the repair.
That changes the math. Someone like this can go down a street, file a few lawsuits, and everyone on that street will try to get into compliance. Everyone on all the streets around it will try to get in compliance. Now, that other part of the ledger can be code enforcement going around to every building and checking and issuing fines (insert joke about how easy it is to bribe the code enforcement guy here) or you can let a private citizen do it. Unlike the code enforcement guy their motivation is to find problems. A code guy is there for the paycheck and to hopefully not screw anything up so bad he gets fired or arrested when a building burns down.
Now, if I walk into a store and see a safety issue I just tell the store, but I'm not making safety or ADA compliance my day job. This guy does. I actually personally know someone who does this. He sued the city where he used to live to bring their mass transit system into ADA compliance (he won). Hiring lawyers is expensive. Even lawyers who are doing it for social justice have to eat.
This story is way too light on details. They talked to the stores but couldn't be bothered to ask what compliance issues they fixed? Or stop by any of the other stores and ask them what compliance issue they had and if they fixed it?
I mean, yes, he is suing for money. If you want to call it a shakedown though it's pretty easy, but time consuming, to look into it. The lawsuits are all on file. Look them up and see what the complaints were. Go to those businesses and see if they are now in compliance. If he's running a shakedown he'll almost certainly take the money and run. If, on the other hand, all the compliance issues have been fixed he is at least getting things fixed. You still don't know his personal motivations. That would take a deeper investigation into how much it costs him to do all of this. Some people see this as a crusade and are in it to fix things. If you are rich and can afford to fund it all yourself then you don't need to collect money, but if you arent?
Its not that at all. The wheelchair guy was 100% accommodated. He was looking for other accommodations he doesn't need but others do (handrails).
@@nacoran Thanks very much for explaining this so thoroughly. As I said elsewhere, these store owners have had decades to bring their establishments into compliance. Do they get a free warning on fire-code violations? What about food safety violations? The law is the law, and has been since 1990. Anyone who wanted to comply has had ample time to do it. Anyone who hasn't is a scofflaw playing the odds, as you've explained so clearly.
@@nacoran fallacy of excluded middle
@@marthas8108 fallacy of excluded middle
if it all comes from just one person seems like an easy fix to me, just have the businesses chip in some money and hire a few handy people from our neighbor city Oakland....
You clearly haven’t been following the story. This POS just rolls by a spot looks inside and then rolls away, then the biz gets served with a lawsuit and they won’t let the people correct the infractions.
Exactly. $15,000. Problem over.
What city does he live in huehue
He messes with the wrong business that may happen…
This is how you can tell they don’t have the Mob in that area. If he tried to hit up one Mob front, his career would come to an abrupt end. He might still be around, but he’d have completely lost interest in being a “tester.”
He has plenty of enemies wouldnt be surprised if someone catches him in the street
He needs his arms and mouth disabled too. I feel bad for these businesses.
Yes sir
Walk up behind, tip over, walk off. Done
California really is a mess.
An ADA tester should not be able to personally benefit from any violations found. They should be an employee of the state or local government, where the government can put pressure on the business for appropriate corrections, as could be expected by the type of business, where it is located, and it’s size. Many federal laws do not apply to very small businesses, which the law defines. He is no tester, this serial litigant found a disabled-friendly means of scoring big bucks. He’s not alone and there are many not- disabled people, who take advantage of the easy ways of suing others. America, where lying and committing fraud is the National pastime.
If you knew about the history of the ADA you would know that it was designed to work with people suing businesses.
The Republicans that supported the ADA didn't want the government enforcement. They didn't want government inspectors going after businesses. If the government was enforcing it then there would be many more violations against businesses and they wouldn't have had 31 years of time to follow the law.
I am sure he has his own dirt. These businesses just need to hire a private investigator and use his own tactics against him legally.
788 cases since 2014.....That's at least 2 cases filed a week since then. How is that not enough evidence for serial litigation or being vexatious? Is an ADA tester a job?
He's riding his Tesla wheelchair laughing all the way to the bank.
i'd actually wonder just what part the law firm he uses plays... does the law firm work for him or does he work for the law firm?
@@jamesmontgomery9464 smart fellow
You'll be in one someday. God willing.
@@dalethelander3781 LOL 😆 like he isn't doing this to take people's money legally
@@quackss6384 That as may be. Not all disabled are looking for a big payday. Some of us just want to wake up and get through the day, rinse, repeat. Personally, I set my own bar pretty low.
I've been in the rehab Mobility industry for three decades and this stuff happens more than you think. People tend to give others in wheelchairs the benefit of the doubt when the fact the matter is these people in wheelchairs are the same as any of us they just have one physical disability. They have personalities and mental and emotional issues just like we all have.
Tell him his money is 10 feet off a dock next to the ocean
Another example of how California lawmakers don't give a hoot about small businesses.
Yes because California lawmakers created the ADA. Oh wait, California lawmakers had nothing to do with it as it is a federal law.
@@aigtrader2984 : I should have added California judges to that because the federal bench in Ninth Circus is a woke joke with more reversals than any other circuit.
Between that and state laws that make thefts below $950 a misdemeanor, it's tough enough to run a business even without a Marxist punk DA like Chesa Boudin, who was raised by terrorists while his cop murdering parents were in prison and who tends to not prosecute crimes brought to him to an extent that criminals have little or no fear of prosecution.
So, yes, you're right that Ninth Circuit judges should be included with California lawmakers and local DAs not giving a shit about small businesses. Thanks for pointing that out.
@@ricfax California judges? The 9th circuit includes Utah, Nevada, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, and Arizona and is served by more judges appointed by Republicans than by Democrats. And if people want relief from their judgment they can appeal to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court reverses more cases from the 9th Circuit because it’s the largest circuit and here’s the most cases. Get a new adjective because using the word Woke is a sad argument in place of facts.
@@timmacsweet1 : While missing the basic point that businesses in woke California cities face challenges that are causing many to close or move, you're off picking at nits. Bless your heart.
@@ricfax and you’re missing the point that the ninth circuit isn’t the liberal bastion you purport it to be since it’s composed of more judges nominated by R’s than D’Souza. And for the second time calling a city, a person, a state, or an entire judicial circuit “woke” is not an argument. It’s lazy and trite. Serial litigants are a problem in all states and California has the oldest vexation litigation laws in the US. So the state government has laws to thwart these lawsuits but people always find a way to subvert the law until a new law is created. But you have nothing to say about big law firms essentially extorting small businesses. These are the same big law firms that fight the states and federal government to keep litigation reform from becoming law. And let me tell you these big law firms aren’t “woke” as you would say but just cutthroat capitalist shaking down small businesses. But to you everything just comes down to everyone being too “woke”. You sound like a broken record. It’s like a believer that states that everything that they don’t like is the work of the devil. The woke schtick is wearing thin.
Over 7000 lawsuits since 2014 with settlements of 4gs a pop? That's 28 million dollars and the law firm talking like their clients a hero.
700 Louis 700
@@jb5music i heard 70000
@@ninja.saywhat 700
To their bottom line
I think you misheard or hit the 0 too many times, fella lol
Should sue the lawyers for these "Bogus" lawsuits!
Lawyer make money off this
Bottom line is that this one person is attacking small businesses that are more likely to settle than fight such a lawsuit. Add to that it is setup so that he benefits whether there is a real problem or not because as it is described most of these businesses can only afford to settle versus pursue the litigation. So that he consistently is paid for each business that rolls over for him and settles. As the one handicapped gentleman who patronizes the one business he himself in a wheelchair can not find where the business owner has not sought to make his business accessible. It is a scam especially when you find one law firm filing all of these suits and then looking for settlements rather than havng the businesses meet ada accessibility guidelines. BTW I am in a wheelchair myself and I am ashamed that this person is doing this to these business owners just to scam them.
No small business should be forced to make their establishment handicap accessible . Regulating new builds to be accessible is understandable. But forcing small businesses to retrofit a business can be very costly. They can always go somewhere else. ADA needs to make some changes that regard these small businesses and that would eliminate all these frivolous suits.
I call BS for people suing to force them to be compliance. They have city code, sue the city for not making them compliance. Not your job. They just trying to get rich.
His days are numbered now that he has been exposed. I'll wait for that story
Here's hoping that he and his scumbag lawyer get what they deserve.
Both my parents were in wheelchairs for many years. I can't tell you how many times I lifted my mother out of her chair and wrestled her into a bathroom stall, fought our way through department store aisles jammed full of merchandise and racks and bins, up and down steps or curbs etc etc. We never would have sued anyone! Shameful.
Maybe you should have. Progress doesn't happen through inaction. What if rosa parks had just done what she was told and not made a fuss?
@@herculesbrofister265 that's no excuse to be rude. Small business owners should not be targets they have razor thin profit margins. I didn't even sue the school district that wouldn't accommodate my insulin dependant kindergarten son. I educated them until they felt they could do the job.
@@herculesbrofister265 Progress also rarely happens through vengeance and spite, it's more often through a mutual agreement and compromise. Rosa Parks is just a figure among many others at the time, the only reason she gets remembered is because of her emotional impact but as far as real change, it was put through by others who were willing to work with people.
Good for him
This guy's gonna piss off a "mom & pop" Italian joint and wind up in a trunk.
There’s a lot of scammers who take advantage of these types of laws. It’s not just ADA. This is old news. This is why you don’t do business in your personal name aka sole proprietorship. Businesses use corporations such as an LLC, limited liability company to protect themselves. You can only sue the separate entity and not your personal assets. There’s ways to even set it up so that your business shows no assets or profits so it’s not worth suing even in small claims court because the person suing will have court fees and legals fee in excess of what they can get so it’s not worth it. The easy targets are small mom and pop businesses who have sole proprietorships. And no you can’t fight it until the laws changes. Unfortunately they will need to pay to settle because fighting it will cost 3 times more.
I used to work at a factory wish very dangerous equipment everywhere, we got fined because a new door didn’t have a brail exit sign on it! My boss said “I guarantee a blind man will never be in this building trying to find an exit door down here.” There should be some kind of common sense clause for some of this stuff.
Why is someone who offers nothing to the work force making it harder for others.
Welcome to America
Just like welfare
It's crap attitudes like yours that lead to getting sued for non compliance. You can't be serious, bro. We're not talking about alcoholic hobos who refuse to get a job.
@@travismiller5548 you're right! I even heard the disabled guy had no plans of suing those hundreds of businesses he'd never visited in person. That is, until, one day, he noticed some bad attitudes in TH-cam comment sections. Of course then he sued everybody bc what the heck else CAN he do?
Wheelchair access isn't the only form of ADA accessibility. I had to call many Bay Area businesses for my deaf friend because they'd hang up on her calling service. The piece doesn't mention why he was filing the ADA complaince complaints, and visually implied it was all about wheelchair access. Bad news report.
The owner of the business probably doesn't own the building. They probably have a landlord. The landlord probably didn't design the building or build the building. The builder would have only built the building after they got the building plans approved by the city's codes department. Why would the city's codes department allow for non-ADA compliant buildings to be built? Does the city government not care about handicapped individuals? Seems like the city needs to be sued for approving all of those buildings
One frivolous lawsuit after another, This guy is really on a roll!
🧑🦼🧑🦼🧑🦼
Happens everyday all over the country, i've seen it at least 10 times in my life , in NYC and in Florida.. The little food mart by my house got one and settled gave the guy 10k and same thing, he was working for a law firm , just going around looking for fowls .. they were repaving the handy cap entrance and he came towards the entrance wanted a news paper , they didn't respond to him fast enough , i guess , then got into an argument called the police and filed a report.. and filed suit ..i remember it cause no one had ever seen that guy in the neighborhood before and never have since.... those crooks tested their business , they failed.. they have a guy who works there who specifically goes out to help the handicap with their purchases even then, but eh the law is the law, even disability in America is scandalous ..
That man was notorious in Sacramento around 2008
That was a different guy.
The serial ADA filer in Sacramento is Scott Johnson who is now being indicted for tax evasion, failing to report the money he extorts from business owners.
As a disabled person, I find Garcia & his shyster lawyers 700+ lawsuits offensive. If he was truly filing these lawsuits to further accessibility for the disabled he would put his settlements towards just that instead of making a buck off of it and claiming it was because he was a disability "tester"! To be honest, with as much money as this attorney has made off of Garcia's suing the mom and pop shops, he needs to hire a stylist!
I guess if you're in a wheelchair it's hard to slip and fall in the grocery store so this is the next best thing. Legitimate violations are worthy of forced compliance but milking the money cow should be prosecuted to.
I'm willing to bet he's been in prison before and done that on the inside.