Tuesday, November 11, 2008

SOME COMMON SENSE RELIEF FROM DISABLED ACCESS LAWSUITS

On October 8, 2008 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill that increases public access for individuals with disabilities while reducing unwarranted litigation. SB 1608 is a bipartisan comprehensive reform measure, authored by Senators Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro), Tom Harman (R-Huntington Beach) and Ron Calderon (D-Montebello), and Assembly Members Cameron Smyth (R-Santa Clarita) and Lois Wolk (D-Davis). The bill received unanimous support by both houses of the Legislature before being sent to the Governor.

SB 1608 is designed to address two important goals: (1) promoting and increasing compliance with state and federal civil rights laws providing for equal access for individuals with disabilities in public accommodations; and (2) reducing unwarranted, unnecessary litigation that does not advance the goals of disability access. SB 1608 arrives at a solution through a combination of the following key reform provisions: (1) Clarifications in the law to help reduce unwarranted damages and attorneys' fees; (2) A new disability commission which will be tasked with evaluating and providing recommendations on further disability issues having an impact on the disability community and business; (3) Improved continuing education in disability access laws for building inspectors and architects; (4) Incentivizing building owners to use state-certified access specialists to ensure compliance; and (5) A new court procedure to encourage early resolution of disability access lawsuits.

One of the important reforms in SB 1608 is a provision clarifying that plaintiffs may recover damages only for a violation they personally encountered or that deterred access on a particular occasion, rather than for alleged violations that may exist at a place of business but did not cause a denial of access. In addition, SB 1608 clarifies that a court can consider reasonable written settlement offers made and rejected in determining the amount of reasonable attorneys fees to be awarded at the end of a case, which is aimed at reducing unnecessary protraction of litigation by either party.
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