Here is a list of Democrats opposing Americans with Disabilities Act

[hardluck]

72. Because of the ADAs interaction with a CA statute

California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act provides a $4,000 penalty per violation of the ADA whereas the ADA only provides injunctive relief. This has incentivized the mill type approach to litigating the ADA, where a single law firm will file hundreds of lawsuits per year. The strategy is to file a ton of lawsuits, send out a settlement demand of around $15,000, and negotiate a quick settlement of around $8,000 - $10,000, knowing that the business will settle because it is cheaper than litigating the case.

The alternative for the business is to fix issue, then file summary judgment as they have now mooted the ADA claim. But this will run $30,000-$50,000 in attorneys fees, thus the quick sertlement. This change to the ADA would add a safe harbor provision allowing the businesses time to fix the issue without an actual lawsuit and thus avoiding the settlement costs while still gaining compliance with the ADA. The downside is it will deincentivize lawyers from suing under the ADA thus reducing compliance with the ADA.

Seems to me there should be governmental ADA inspections just like fire or building code inspections with fines and requirements to bring the buildings up to code, but instead we chose a private attorney general means of enforcing the ADA.