This
is floating around, a special “get-out-of-town” for Jason Singleton, the Eureka-based attorney whose Americans With Disabilities Act lawsuits have led some businesses in Humboldt County and elsewhere to shut down under the crushing costs.
Instead of being considered a hero for the disabled, Singleton is un-revered by many — a “wolf in sheep’s clothing,” according to Carmichael-based attorney Catherine Corfee, who told the Journal several years ago that there are valid ADA cases out there … just not Singleton’s.
The latest suit-provoked closure to piss off Singleton’s Humboldt neighbors is that of Porter Street Barbeque in Arcata, which gave up last month. The owner, Scott Seelye, told the Mad River Union‘s Jack Durham “the restaurant was barely getting by, sometimes struggling” and he couldn’t afford the $40,000-some in upgrades Singleton’s suit demanded. Seelye also told the Union that, 18 years ago when he opened the restaurant, he got all the permits required.
This article appears in Humboldt Outside.
The reason he is not a hero is because if you do your research NCJ you will find that he has filed a MASSIVE number of frivolous law suits and most of the plantiffs are mysteriously not from this area or they have had little to no communications with the owners of said businesses or the property owners if any at all. He is also targeting establishments that he feels are weak financially and most likley to pony up his ridiculous legal fees and shut down instead of fighting. It is extortion plain and simple.
A solution for our community would be a large ADA educational forum where business and property owners could learn the specific requirements of the ADA and the typs of extablishment they are running.
If you type the name Jason Singleton atty at law into google search well over 500 notations are made about Mr Singleton and the massive number of local businesses he has attacked in the name of the ADA.
California is the only state that can sue over ADA requirements
this just makes me sad. wanted? and then to post it so large? I’m no fan, but to just reprint this highly charged poster like that is, ugh.
I have been sharpening the tines on my pitchfork for this guy for a looonnnggg time.
Anybody got a cauldron of hot oil and some feathers? Does he pay his “victims” of ADA discrimination before or after he ruins a long standing, community loved business? Does he shop locally? Where is his office, anyway?
The ADA has provisions for “reasonable accomodation.”
An example of how this would work would be if there was a small magazine store which had a step which prevented someone in a wheel chair from accessing the interior. Assuming that the store didn’t make a lot of money and couldn’t afford to redesign the entrance or put in a chair lift, an accomodation could be made whereby the person using the wheel chair could announce that they were outside the store and then the owner/cashier could go out and find out what they wanted and then get it for them, etc. Conversely, a large store with a larger income might have to redesign/rebuild the entrance to allow a wheelchair access.
It seems to me that the problem lies as much with the Judges who are ignorant about this provision and allow an unnecessary burden to be placed onto the owners of businesses which would qualify for this reasonable accomodation.
Of course, there are some who don’t support the goal of inclusiveness for people with disability which is the purpose of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Anybody who wanted further insight into this provision could contact the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (http://dredf.org/), the law and policy organization which was responsible for the passage of the ADA. Their office is just down the coast in Berkeley.
I have to agree that republishing this “Wanted” poster illustrates how effortlessly our culture can forget a very long, dark era of extrajudicial vigilantism in the U.S.. This person hasn’t been convicted of a crime and his license is valid.
Meanwhile, we still live in a county run by speculator-crooks that have been harvesting resource lands and infrastructure for decades without a fuss from local media. Only one has been convicted of a felony (Ken Bareilles) for exercising what every other property rights nut-case has been doing forever…maximizing profits on THEIR LAND, a “right” that apparently supersedes public costs, environmental and economic impacts…and media interest.
Mr. Singleton visited our establishment without issue. We possess letters from disabled customers attesting to the effectiveness of our “Reasonable Accommodations”. Otherwise, it’s debatable just how reasonable they are, or if they are real.