Hi, tennissw8888, and welcome to WebAnswers.

About the best you can expect is payment of your legal expenses, if you have any. You might move for dismissal with prejudice.

Thank you for your question.

In a civil lawsuit you must show that you have been damaged in some way and come up with some amount that you should be paid to cover those damages. As Peanutbred said above, really the only damages you have incurred are any costs you have had to expend in defending yourself. You could perhaps add any income you lost as a result of having to spend time defending yourself too.

If the matter is set for a hearing, you could perhaps argue that it is a frivolous suit and it should be dismissed. Occasionally judges will award what are called "treble damages" where they award you triple the amount you asked for because of it was a nuisance lawsuit.

This is a lawsuit due to a potential violation of the Americans With Disability Act of 1990. It is NOT a bogus lawsuit. It is a violation that will be addressed by the Federal Government.

Handicapped people are eligible to file such suits when businesses allegedly violate the regulations on the basis of equal access. It is a legitimate claim. The Americans With Disability Act may also assess extra fines for non compliance, and the excuse "gee, I didn't know" is not an acceptable excuse.

Those individuals with a medically recognized handicap are eligible for filing equal access lawsuits even against City, County and State Governments for violating ADA regulations, as stated in Article 18 of the Olmstead Act:

Individuals can file complaints about violations of title II and Olmstead with the
Department of Justice. A title II complaint form is available on-line at www.ada.gov and can be
sent to:
U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Disability Rights Section – NYAV
Washington, DC 20530

There are potentially substantial fines and assessments involved. You would be doing yourself a great favor by contacting your attorney to assist you in your defense.

Slip, you seem to be missing something here. The original asker isn't saying he didn't know, he's saying he didn't have an entrance sign because he doesn't have indoor seating. It's a drive-through restaurant only.

If this is true then that means the claimant IS filing a bogus complaint. Whether they use a real law to file it or not, you can still have a bogus claim made against you, which it sounds like is what's happening from what the original poster has said. None of the Sonic restaurants in my area have ever had entrance signs, because people are not supposed to go inside; they are supposed to use the intercoms to order their food (and there is still patio seating and you are still not supposed to go inside to order or pay). Sounds like he had a similar setup.

Listen to Peanutbred and Mrs. Daisy. They've given you correct advice.

On top of what they have said, you may also have a claim for slander or libel if this person has spoken to others or written about you and this issue. It's illegal to damage someone's name with false information.

Edit to below: So you completely neglected to answer the question just because you could? Great idea.

Nothing in the asker's post says he wasn't handling it in an appropriate manner, only that she wanted to know her options for a counter suit. You completely neglected to answer anything about that; you just got snippy about her wanting to defend herself against what may be a false allegation.

This happens to be an area that I deal with in my daily business. I said ALLEGEDLY violates the regulations. There are ADA regulations that apply, even if there is no public entrance. I merely am pointing out that it is NOT a bogus lawsuit, but requires an answer and a legal defense.

The most common defense people use is the statement "I didn't know", and I merely pointed out that this is not an accepted defense. Under the circumstances, I was pointing out that it is not a bogus lawsuit and does require a defense, even if only to clarify that there is no public entrance, which may require a sign stating "No Public Entrance".

This is a sample of the kinds of lawsuits that are the reason we see all those idiotic warning signs on everything that tell us not to do something so obviously stupid a brick would know better. Companies get sued and lose BECAUSE there is no sign.

According to my own contacts within the ADA, there is a growing nationwide trend for a significant increase in these kinds of lawsuits being filed by handicapped individuals. They cannot be ignored. Such cases can and do end up with very costly judgments.

Hi Prettyevil,
I want to thank you for taking time to help me with my question.
And this slipfallguy sounds like those scumbags Attorney that
are helpping all those stupid so called Disable Plaintiffs that's
filing Hundred's lawsuits against all the business owners.

Yes, this is a frivolous lawsuit, and this so called American Disable Acts are just whole bunch scumbags out there ruined lifes of all
those hard working business ownerit's. And most of those so called Disable plaintiffs are nothing but criminals trying to make a quick
bucks, and the worse part of it all, are those Lawyers that are filing the lawsuits. They are the worse of the worse SCUMS!!!! And they should all be discipline and disbarment from the State Bar.

Please go online and watch ABC7 News, Plaintiff, James Cohan and Alfredo Garcia, you'll understand why I'm so passionate about this ADA abused. Actually, I'm one of the victim.

Again, thank you for your time, and by the way, are you an Attorney? If yes, what area of law that you're practicing?

Sandra

As a general rule, where you feel a sense of injustice, you can have a good counter-claim or cross-complaint.

However another general rule is that where the other side is represented by counsel, you should be too.

I'm sorry that you were the victim of an unfair legal action that caused you trouble. This kind of thing brings shame upon the court system, which is supposed to be there to help, not harass, people.

I'm sorry, but I'm not an attorney. I don't believe we have any actual practicing attorneys on WebAnswers.com right now.

It should be very easy to find a lawyer in your area to help defend you against this and help you file a counter claim. Since you can counter claim for all your legal fees there's not any reason at all to not get a good lawyer to assist you.

Good luck. Too many people really do take advantage of the court system and using the American's with Disabilities Act is one of the most abused. It's a shame since it was meant to actually assist and help people, not harass business owners.

Edit: I have been corrected. I wasn't sure if Peanutbred was a practicing attorney or not and didn't want to hazard a guess since it wasn't in his profile.

The rest of that wasn't directed at me, was it? Because I have nothing against the act - as I said, it's meant to help people, but it does end up abused often.

Actually Peanutbred IS a practicing attorney. Otherwise, I don't believe there are any others. Have you ever been forced into a wheelchair or had to use crutches? I had four MONTHS of it and I can't imagine dealing with it for a lifetime. No, I don't think you did need an entrance labeled if it was a drive through situation.

There are many places, though, that do need to be updated. It was beyond frustrating for me to have to get out of my car really far away from my doctor's office because there was no access for the wheelchair except at the OTHER end of the building which made no sense since the entrance was on the OTHER end.

Many lawyers offer free hour consults. Start calling and there will be one who is quite interested in helping you.

Hi Martygoldeng,
Thank you for your time. I didn't hire any Attorney because our system is broken. It's a vicious cycle..........all those Attorney out there LOVE this kind of things, more ADA abused cases filing out there also bring them more business too. I called one Lawyer and asked him, how should I handle this lawsuit? And how much? He was going to charge me some where around $10,000.00 for my defend. Wow, what a rip off! You see, that's why I called this a vicious cycle.
No, I'm going to defind myself, because this is a frivolous lawsuit. Besides, I worked too hard for
my money.
Thank you again.
Sandra