April 18, 2016 - East Bay Times
Preying on small businesses?
Taking aim at predatory ADA lawsuits
Three bills target excessive litigation that manipulates system, harms merchants
By Matthias Gafni
mgafni@bayareanewsgroup.com
SAN JOSE ? Reacting to a crescendo of horror stories, state and federal lawmakers are taking aim at people they believe are manipulating disabled access laws to pad their own bank accounts.
Three state bills are snaking their way through Sacramento, and two pieces of federal legislation are also in the works to rein in people like Scott Johnson, a disabled attorney whose serial lawsuits were featured in this newspaper last week. Johnson has sued thousands of small businesses across Northern California, often over minor violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act, such as signs posted in the wrong color or doors with slightly too much resistance.
Johnson
Attorney has sued thousands of businesses in Northern California.
Several legislators from across the state who reached out to this newspaper after the article appeared said the various bills all look to create a window of opportunity for business owners to make minor fixes before being sued and having to pay minimum damages of $4,000 per violation, as well as attorney fees for themselves and the plaintiff.
Last month, U.S. Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton, introduced the COMPLI Act, which would allow businesses 90 days after notification of violation to reach compliance. The bill also targets ?highfrequency litigants,? such as Johnson. ?I have heard from numerous local businesses who were forced to shut down, lay off employees, pay out large settlements or change locations because of repeated lawsuits and threats of lawsuits that leave these businesses with little to no financial resources or time to fix the problem and become compliant,? McNerney said in an email. Dennis and Shawn Wuollet own one of those affected businesses. The father and son have served up quick, fresh Mexican food favorites at Taco Bravo in Campbell for 45 years, and in San Jose more recently. But they have been sued twice by Johnson in the past two years and worry they may be run out of business.
?It?s a scam, and we got caught up in the scam,? said Dennis Wuollet, a 70-year-old Campbell resident. ?It ruined my life, it did. It ruined my life.?
Couldn?t afford fixes
In 2014, Johnson sued the Wuollets? second Taco Bravo on Snell Avenue in San Jose for various violations. The owner of the building and the Wuollets paid a $30,000 settlement, and Wuollet said the payout left him unable to afford the fixes, so he closed the restaurant, laying off about 15 workers. ?It?s been two years, and now I?m just catching up to my bills. ? It cost so much money to open up a second store,? Dennis Wuollet said. And now Johnson has targeted the original Taco Bravo at 1950 S. Bascom Ave. in Campbell, filing a lawsuit that also names the neighboring Wienerschnitzel. The two restaurants share parking spaces, and Wuollet is hoping his store is not the main target. ?I just think he?s suing us again because he got money from us before,? Wuollet said. ?I?m still hoping it?s not true. If it is true, it?ll wipe me out. I?ll just go home and quit.?
Neither Johnson nor his attorney returned requests for comment.
On Wednesday, the California Assembly Appropriations Committee approved Senate Bill 269, which would provide businesses relief from ADA predatory lawsuits.
?The ADA serves the right purpose ? to increase and ensure access for all Americans,? Assemblywoman Catharine Baker , R-San Ramon, said in an email. ?But it?s a shame when people take laws intended to protect the vulnerable and turn them into their own personal piggy bank.?
Sued out of existence
State Senate Bill 1142 and SB 1406 also would address the issue. ?Rather than discouraging people from bringing claims under these disability access laws, allowing for a time to cure weeds out serial attorneys and plaintiffs who are only bringing these claims for a quick payout,? said state Sen. John Moorlach, RCosta Mesa, who introduced SB 1142, in an email. ?There is no point to these standards if a business is sued out of existence if it could not abide by them.?
California has 40 percent of the nation?s ADA lawsuits but only 12 percent of the country?s disabled population, according to U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, who has co-sponsored the ACCESS Act of 2015, which also seeks protections for business owners. This newspaper received calls and emails after a story about Johnson and his propensity for filing ADA lawsuits ran last week. Ajay Dhillon of Pleasanton said that after Johnson sued him for ADA violations at some of his Long John Silver restaurants in the Sacramento area, he sold his Bay Area franchises in 2011 and moved his business to Texas. David Shaffer, who operates his own insurance agency in Walnut Creek, said that when he tore his Achilles tendon last month and was on crutches for weeks, it changed his perspective on disabled access.
?If business owners are found to be in violation, they should be required to experience what it?s like to be disabled and reflect on what it?s like to get around their businesses,? he said. ?I don?t think people are sensitive to what it?s like being disabled.? Taco Bravo?s Shawn Wuollet, 48, said any new laws need to give businesses the opportunity to bring their buildings into compliance. ?It?s just gonna continue happening unless something is done,? he said. ?People will keep going out of business; people will keep losing their jobs.?
Contact Matthias Gafni at 925-952-5026. Follow him at Twitter.com/mgafni.
April 11, 2016 - East Bay Times ?It?s a total shakedown?
ADA suits hit Bay Area
Serial filer on disability access laws shifts focus from Sacramento-area businesses
By Matthias Gafni
mgafni@bayareanewsgroup.com
SAN RAMON ? In November, Sameer Misson found out his family?s Valero gas station had been sued for violating disability access laws. Surprised, the 29-year-old East Bay resident quickly made the relatively minor fixes to the handicap parking striping and signage, plus changes to the door pressure, counter height and bathroom sink to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. It cost him about $300, and he paid an access specialist to certify that his San Ramon Valley Boulevard service station was up to code.
Sameer Misson made fixes in signage, counter height, bathroom sinks and sticky doors.
DAN ROSENSTRAUCH/STAFF PHOTOS
Misson thought the problem was resolved, so he was shocked when he received a demand for a $25,000 settlement, which would only get higher if he didn?t pay it immediately. That?s when Misson first learned about Scott Johnson, owner of Disabled Access Prevents Injury Inc. Johnson has filed thousands of ADA lawsuits across Northern California for what experts say is millions of dollars in settlements and attorney fees.
?I don?t like getting ripped off at all, whether it?s $1 or a thousand dollars ... and that?s exactly what?s happening here,? Misson said. ?A lot of people say just make a deal and make it go away. I think it?s a legal form of extortion.?
Johnson, a Carmichael attorney who is paralyzed from the waist down and uses a wheelchair, has moved his focus from the greater Sacramento area to the East Bay and South Bay. Since October, he has sued 39 businesses in various cities and towns, including San Ramon, San Jose, Campbell, Pacheco and Pleasant Hill.
But Johnson is perhaps getting a taste of his own medicine. He has been named a defendant in a lawsuit filed in Sacramento County Superior Court by four former employees, and recent court filings have pulled back the curtain on his operation for the first time, alleging quotas, bonuses for high settlements and lawsuits filed against businesses that Johnson never visited.
?He?s the worst of the worst. It?s a total shakedown,? said Sacramento attorney Michael Welch, who has represented hundreds of clients sued by Johnson. ?These cases are all about attorney fees, not about ADA.?
However, the law is largely in Johnson?s favor. Each violation, even if it involves a sign affixed to a door an inch too high or low, can carry a $4,000 civil penalty, but more importantly, the loser must pay the other party?s legal fees. And the longer the case drags through court, the bigger the bill, so many businesses choose to settle. Five of the Bay Area businesses sued since October have already paid confidential settlements.
?Holdup job?
For years, Welch has fought Johnson in Sacramento federal court. The lawsuits are all nearly identical in their wording. Welch said he focuses on momand- pop shops, and particularly vulnerable businesses.
?A disproportionate number of businesses sued by Scott Johnson are ... owned by immigrants and minorities,? Welch said. ?The protection racket plays well with immigrant businessmen unfamiliar with the American legal system.?
Johnson appears to have worn out his welcome in that region. In Sacramento federal court, judges began holding off processing Johnson?s lawsuits, Welch said, requiring parties to meet and confer while disabled access corrections were being made so attorney fees would not accrue. Welch dubbed it the Johnson Rule.
?(Judges) know it?s a holdup job. But what can they do?? Welch said. ?They have to uphold the law.?
The state Legislature has been attempting to tighten the law in recent years with mixed success. Last year, a bill was proposed that would have separated the minor violations from the ones that truly block disability access. The legislation would have encouraged businesses to get an accessibility inspection, including a tax credit for the cost of the inspection, and if issues were flagged, they would have been provided a 120-day window to make corrections. However, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed it, saying the tax credit would be too costly.
Johnson has since traveled west to take advantage of the federal court in San Francisco, where the judges are not yet familiar with his serial litigation, said Welch, who already has a handful of East Bay clients. Johnson has also switched tactics ? he?s now just the plaintiff on behalf of Southern California law firm Potter Handy.
Neither Johnson nor his attorney, Mark Potter, answered calls and emails requesting comment.
In 2012, four former employees of Johnson?s company sued him claiming unfair working conditions. Although the women?s attorney, Catherine Corfee, declined to comment because of the ongoing case, in declarations filed last month, the women described an ADA lawsuit mill where Johnson would send them out with a map, measuring tape and intake form to find new businesses to sue. The women said they had to meet a quota of filing between 11 and 16 ADA complaints per pay period to earn a $200 bonus. They received a $100 bonus if a case settled for more than $7,000.
On certain days, the women had to drive with Johnson in his van canvassing areas in search of violators. The women called them ?Stuck with Scott Johnson Days.?
Refusing to settle
Late last year, Johnson hit businesses on South Bascom Avenue between San Jose and Campbell. He sued Com Tam Thanh, a family-owned Vietnamese restaurant at 905 South Bascom Ave. who decided to settle last month for an undisclosed amount. Just down the street at 870 South Bascom, Chung Wu owns a Subway restaurant. Johnson sued Wu and the building?s landlords on March 27, but on Monday that was news to Wu when reached by a reporter.
?I think the law should give small businesses a chance to fix it and give us warning ... before we go to the legal process,? Wu said.
As for Misson, he refuses to settle and wants to get the lawsuit thrown out. Even though Misson made the first round of fixes, Johnson has sent an amended complaint with even more violations, many seemingly minor technical ones.
On a recent Friday, Misson showed a reporter around his gas station just off the Crow Canyon exit of Interstate 680. In the bathroom, he pointed to the shield he was forced to add to the bottom of the sink to prevent a burn to the legs of a customer in a wheelchair.
?We don?t even get hot water in here,? he said, shaking his head. Contact Matthias Gafni at 925-952-5026. Follow him at Twitter.com/mgafni.
California attempting to deal with vexatious litigants-ADA
Preying on small businesses?
Taking aim at predatory ADA lawsuits
Three bills target excessive litigation that manipulates system, harms merchants
By Matthias Gafni
mgafni@bayareanewsgroup.com
SAN JOSE ? Reacting to a crescendo of horror stories, state and federal lawmakers are taking aim at people they believe are manipulating disabled access laws to pad their own bank accounts.
Three state bills are snaking their way through Sacramento, and two pieces of federal legislation are also in the works to rein in people like Scott Johnson, a disabled attorney whose serial lawsuits were featured in this newspaper last week. Johnson has sued thousands of small businesses across Northern California, often over minor violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act, such as signs posted in the wrong color or doors with slightly too much resistance.
JohnsonAttorney has sued thousands of businesses in Northern California.
Several legislators from across the state who reached out to this newspaper after the article appeared said the various bills all look to create a window of opportunity for business owners to make minor fixes before being sued and having to pay minimum damages of $4,000 per violation, as well as attorney fees for themselves and the plaintiff.
Last month, U.S. Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton, introduced the COMPLI Act, which would allow businesses 90 days after notification of violation to reach compliance. The bill also targets ?highfrequency litigants,? such as Johnson. ?I have heard from numerous local businesses who were forced to shut down, lay off employees, pay out large settlements or change locations because of repeated lawsuits and threats of lawsuits that leave these businesses with little to no financial resources or time to fix the problem and become compliant,? McNerney said in an email. Dennis and Shawn Wuollet own one of those affected businesses. The father and son have served up quick, fresh Mexican food favorites at Taco Bravo in Campbell for 45 years, and in San Jose more recently. But they have been sued twice by Johnson in the past two years and worry they may be run out of business.
?It?s a scam, and we got caught up in the scam,? said Dennis Wuollet, a 70-year-old Campbell resident. ?It ruined my life, it did. It ruined my life.?
Couldn?t afford fixes
In 2014, Johnson sued the Wuollets? second Taco Bravo on Snell Avenue in San Jose for various violations. The owner of the building and the Wuollets paid a $30,000 settlement, and Wuollet said the payout left him unable to afford the fixes, so he closed the restaurant, laying off about 15 workers. ?It?s been two years, and now I?m just catching up to my bills. ? It cost so much money to open up a second store,? Dennis Wuollet said. And now Johnson has targeted the original Taco Bravo at 1950 S. Bascom Ave. in Campbell, filing a lawsuit that also names the neighboring Wienerschnitzel. The two restaurants share parking spaces, and Wuollet is hoping his store is not the main target. ?I just think he?s suing us again because he got money from us before,? Wuollet said. ?I?m still hoping it?s not true. If it is true, it?ll wipe me out. I?ll just go home and quit.?
Neither Johnson nor his attorney returned requests for comment.
On Wednesday, the California Assembly Appropriations Committee approved Senate Bill 269, which would provide businesses relief from ADA predatory lawsuits.
?The ADA serves the right purpose ? to increase and ensure access for all Americans,? Assemblywoman Catharine Baker , R-San Ramon, said in an email. ?But it?s a shame when people take laws intended to protect the vulnerable and turn them into their own personal piggy bank.?
Sued out of existence
State Senate Bill 1142 and SB 1406 also would address the issue. ?Rather than discouraging people from bringing claims under these disability access laws, allowing for a time to cure weeds out serial attorneys and plaintiffs who are only bringing these claims for a quick payout,? said state Sen. John Moorlach, RCosta Mesa, who introduced SB 1142, in an email. ?There is no point to these standards if a business is sued out of existence if it could not abide by them.?
California has 40 percent of the nation?s ADA lawsuits but only 12 percent of the country?s disabled population, according to U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, who has co-sponsored the ACCESS Act of 2015, which also seeks protections for business owners. This newspaper received calls and emails after a story about Johnson and his propensity for filing ADA lawsuits ran last week. Ajay Dhillon of Pleasanton said that after Johnson sued him for ADA violations at some of his Long John Silver restaurants in the Sacramento area, he sold his Bay Area franchises in 2011 and moved his business to Texas. David Shaffer, who operates his own insurance agency in Walnut Creek, said that when he tore his Achilles tendon last month and was on crutches for weeks, it changed his perspective on disabled access.
?If business owners are found to be in violation, they should be required to experience what it?s like to be disabled and reflect on what it?s like to get around their businesses,? he said. ?I don?t think people are sensitive to what it?s like being disabled.? Taco Bravo?s Shawn Wuollet, 48, said any new laws need to give businesses the opportunity to bring their buildings into compliance. ?It?s just gonna continue happening unless something is done,? he said. ?People will keep going out of business; people will keep losing their jobs.?
Contact Matthias Gafni at 925-952-5026. Follow him at Twitter.com/mgafni.
April 11, 2016 - East Bay Times ?It?s a total shakedown?
ADA suits hit Bay Area
Serial filer on disability access laws shifts focus from Sacramento-area businesses
By Matthias Gafni
mgafni@bayareanewsgroup.com
SAN RAMON ? In November, Sameer Misson found out his family?s Valero gas station had been sued for violating disability access laws. Surprised, the 29-year-old East Bay resident quickly made the relatively minor fixes to the handicap parking striping and signage, plus changes to the door pressure, counter height and bathroom sink to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. It cost him about $300, and he paid an access specialist to certify that his San Ramon Valley Boulevard service station was up to code.
Sameer Misson made fixes in signage, counter height, bathroom sinks and sticky doors.DAN ROSENSTRAUCH/STAFF PHOTOS
Misson thought the problem was resolved, so he was shocked when he received a demand for a $25,000 settlement, which would only get higher if he didn?t pay it immediately. That?s when Misson first learned about Scott Johnson, owner of Disabled Access Prevents Injury Inc. Johnson has filed thousands of ADA lawsuits across Northern California for what experts say is millions of dollars in settlements and attorney fees.
?I don?t like getting ripped off at all, whether it?s $1 or a thousand dollars ... and that?s exactly what?s happening here,? Misson said. ?A lot of people say just make a deal and make it go away. I think it?s a legal form of extortion.?
Johnson, a Carmichael attorney who is paralyzed from the waist down and uses a wheelchair, has moved his focus from the greater Sacramento area to the East Bay and South Bay. Since October, he has sued 39 businesses in various cities and towns, including San Ramon, San Jose, Campbell, Pacheco and Pleasant Hill.
But Johnson is perhaps getting a taste of his own medicine. He has been named a defendant in a lawsuit filed in Sacramento County Superior Court by four former employees, and recent court filings have pulled back the curtain on his operation for the first time, alleging quotas, bonuses for high settlements and lawsuits filed against businesses that Johnson never visited.
?He?s the worst of the worst. It?s a total shakedown,? said Sacramento attorney Michael Welch, who has represented hundreds of clients sued by Johnson. ?These cases are all about attorney fees, not about ADA.?
However, the law is largely in Johnson?s favor. Each violation, even if it involves a sign affixed to a door an inch too high or low, can carry a $4,000 civil penalty, but more importantly, the loser must pay the other party?s legal fees. And the longer the case drags through court, the bigger the bill, so many businesses choose to settle. Five of the Bay Area businesses sued since October have already paid confidential settlements.
?Holdup job?
For years, Welch has fought Johnson in Sacramento federal court. The lawsuits are all nearly identical in their wording. Welch said he focuses on momand- pop shops, and particularly vulnerable businesses.
?A disproportionate number of businesses sued by Scott Johnson are ... owned by immigrants and minorities,? Welch said. ?The protection racket plays well with immigrant businessmen unfamiliar with the American legal system.?
Johnson appears to have worn out his welcome in that region. In Sacramento federal court, judges began holding off processing Johnson?s lawsuits, Welch said, requiring parties to meet and confer while disabled access corrections were being made so attorney fees would not accrue. Welch dubbed it the Johnson Rule.
?(Judges) know it?s a holdup job. But what can they do?? Welch said. ?They have to uphold the law.?
The state Legislature has been attempting to tighten the law in recent years with mixed success. Last year, a bill was proposed that would have separated the minor violations from the ones that truly block disability access. The legislation would have encouraged businesses to get an accessibility inspection, including a tax credit for the cost of the inspection, and if issues were flagged, they would have been provided a 120-day window to make corrections. However, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed it, saying the tax credit would be too costly.
Johnson has since traveled west to take advantage of the federal court in San Francisco, where the judges are not yet familiar with his serial litigation, said Welch, who already has a handful of East Bay clients. Johnson has also switched tactics ? he?s now just the plaintiff on behalf of Southern California law firm Potter Handy.
Neither Johnson nor his attorney, Mark Potter, answered calls and emails requesting comment.
In 2012, four former employees of Johnson?s company sued him claiming unfair working conditions. Although the women?s attorney, Catherine Corfee, declined to comment because of the ongoing case, in declarations filed last month, the women described an ADA lawsuit mill where Johnson would send them out with a map, measuring tape and intake form to find new businesses to sue. The women said they had to meet a quota of filing between 11 and 16 ADA complaints per pay period to earn a $200 bonus. They received a $100 bonus if a case settled for more than $7,000.
On certain days, the women had to drive with Johnson in his van canvassing areas in search of violators. The women called them ?Stuck with Scott Johnson Days.?
Refusing to settle
Late last year, Johnson hit businesses on South Bascom Avenue between San Jose and Campbell. He sued Com Tam Thanh, a family-owned Vietnamese restaurant at 905 South Bascom Ave. who decided to settle last month for an undisclosed amount. Just down the street at 870 South Bascom, Chung Wu owns a Subway restaurant. Johnson sued Wu and the building?s landlords on March 27, but on Monday that was news to Wu when reached by a reporter.
?I think the law should give small businesses a chance to fix it and give us warning ... before we go to the legal process,? Wu said.
As for Misson, he refuses to settle and wants to get the lawsuit thrown out. Even though Misson made the first round of fixes, Johnson has sent an amended complaint with even more violations, many seemingly minor technical ones.
On a recent Friday, Misson showed a reporter around his gas station just off the Crow Canyon exit of Interstate 680. In the bathroom, he pointed to the shield he was forced to add to the bottom of the sink to prevent a burn to the legs of a customer in a wheelchair.
?We don?t even get hot water in here,? he said, shaking his head. Contact Matthias Gafni at 925-952-5026. Follow him at Twitter.com/mgafni.
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