In Matt Grocott’s Aug. 3 Daily Journal column “Drive-by ADA lawsuits,” Matt neglected to mention some important information about the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA, a federal law, was enacted in 1990, which means business owners have had over 30 years to modify their businesses to meet the federally mandated standards. Secondly, every person who applies for a California business license, is required to read and sign a disclosure statement on the application form that states, basically, that every person operating a business in California must comply with all federal, state and local laws in conjunction with that business.
And lastly, the issue of ‘Drive-by ADA lawsuits’ has been in the local newspapers for the last five to 10 years, which means, these business owners have had plenty of time and warning to make the necessary modifications to their businesses to accommodate the disabled.
To me, it sounds like either a case of procrastination, or, these business owners think that someone else should pay for the required modifications to their businesses, as they do not want to follow the law.
Mr. Oberg – good point on following the law. Now can you get authorities to keep criminals in jails, as these convicted criminals obviously didn’t follow the law and should remain in jail? Can you get authorities to enforce laws that are currently on the books? Can you get authorities to enforce immigration laws? If authorities don’t follow the law, why should business owners, or anyone else, follow the law? Why are business owners being taken to task on certain laws when others are not held to other respective laws?
Mr. Oberg, you may want to go back and read my column again because I did address in my narrative the issue you raise. The owner of the Canyon Inn remodeled his building and opened his business 10 years before the ADA law was enacted. How then is it applied? A similar situation exists when one takes over a business in whole from another owner, as in the case of the Plantation. You comment, "a business in California must comply with all federal, state and local laws in conjunction with that business." Your statement implies that small business owners are also lawyers and have all the time in the world to read all the code and all the laws which apply to them. Even lawyers don't know all of it b/c one could fill a library with all the volumes of code and law. There is so much code and law, every one of us probably violates something every single day without knowing we have done so. Lastly, you wholly miss the point of my column. To wit: to have the law set up in such a way that someone who has a handicap can partner with a lawyer and make a rich living off of suing unsuspecting businesses is unjust and criminal. To work hard for one's income is commendable; to extort it from others is criminal.
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(2) comments
Mr. Oberg – good point on following the law. Now can you get authorities to keep criminals in jails, as these convicted criminals obviously didn’t follow the law and should remain in jail? Can you get authorities to enforce laws that are currently on the books? Can you get authorities to enforce immigration laws? If authorities don’t follow the law, why should business owners, or anyone else, follow the law? Why are business owners being taken to task on certain laws when others are not held to other respective laws?
Mr. Oberg, you may want to go back and read my column again because I did address in my narrative the issue you raise. The owner of the Canyon Inn remodeled his building and opened his business 10 years before the ADA law was enacted. How then is it applied? A similar situation exists when one takes over a business in whole from another owner, as in the case of the Plantation. You comment, "a business in California must comply with all federal, state and local laws in conjunction with that business." Your statement implies that small business owners are also lawyers and have all the time in the world to read all the code and all the laws which apply to them. Even lawyers don't know all of it b/c one could fill a library with all the volumes of code and law. There is so much code and law, every one of us probably violates something every single day without knowing we have done so. Lastly, you wholly miss the point of my column. To wit: to have the law set up in such a way that someone who has a handicap can partner with a lawyer and make a rich living off of suing unsuspecting businesses is unjust and criminal. To work hard for one's income is commendable; to extort it from others is criminal.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.