Hotels, bars, and restaurants face Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuits over noncompliance.
Businesses in Arizona and Southern California are facing a wave of lawsuits filed by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) because these businesses seem to be discriminating against their disabled guests.
These lawsuits began last year and focused on southwest businesses (mostly hotels, and motels) over the absence of pool lifts and other infrastructure inconvenience that causes trouble for their physically disabled guests.
Restaurants in this area have also seen an influx of lawsuits, but—as you may have assumed—not for an absence of pool lifts, rather for missing ramps that make access to the restrooms or the bar easier for them.
The majority of the cases are settled out of court with business willing to comply with the ADA complaint and install the necessary ramps to make their business accessible to everyone. The cost for some smaller business to install the necessary ramps/lifts is usually between two to three thousand dollars. The alternative is going to court, paying the lawyer for their time, and having their public image be destroyed as the headlines the next day read, “Restaurant spends thousands to fight disabled customer instead of installing an affordable ramp.†(Long headline, but it gets our point across.)
The majority of small business do not construct their business with the mal-intent of discriminating against the disabled. Most of the time, they just never thought of the inconvenience they accidentally created, by not thinking of ALL their customers. Unfortunately, this forgetfulness may end up being costly, and causes major inconveniences for the people who are unable to access your services. If you are located in or around Southern California or Arizona and the Western US, call or
contact us, Parkwest General Contractors, today. Let us work with you to complete your project quickly and accurately.
