Lawsuit Filed Against Monrovia Business Over Handicapped Access

By Susan Motander

The Copper Lamp and its property owners were served with a lawsuit this week alleging a violation of the Unruh act. This act is the California equivalent of the Americans with Disabilities Act. In this case, the suit claims the plaintiff, John Ho visited the Copper Lamp in February of this year and that the Copper Lamp does not have a handicapped parking space.
As a handicapped individual, Ho alleges that he has had prior bad experiences parking in spaces that are not in compliance with the law or in regular handicapped spaces. As a result of these experiences he was “dissuaded from attempting to park and use non-compliant parking spaces,” according to the suit. It also says that Ho “would like to return and patronize Copper Lamp Liquor but cannot do so on a full and equal basis until compliant parking is provided.”
What is most interesting about this case is that the Ho has recently filed more than a hundred such lawsuits in the East District of the Los Angeles Superior Court alleging similar violations. The East District Courthouse is located in Pomona and the district covers the area including Pomona, Glendora, San Dimas, etc.
These suits have been filed with fee waivers, meaning the plaintiff has not had to pay the normal filing fee of $435. If the amount recovered from such law suits is less than $10,000, the courts do not go after the plaintiff who had the fees waived.
It seems that Ho has now moved further west to be inconvenienced.
Lawsuits of this nature are often filed on behalf of handicapped individuals using what is referred to as “Private Attorneys General.” The law allows individuals (and attorneys acting for them) to file lawsuits on behalf of the individual and the public in general.
Unfortunately, the law is often abused for the personal gain of the individuals and the attorneys representing them. Small businesses are usually the targets as they often do not have the funds to fight the suits. When they do fight the suits, huge attorney fees are usually run up. If the defendants do not prevail, the law calls for them to pay the attorney fees. Even if they win, the small businesses have themselves been forced to spend a great deal of money to defend themselves.
In recent years legislature has been enacted to curb the abuse of the laws. However, they are still being filed.

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