Just as I finished writing about the wave of new Title III Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) lawsuits in Arizona, ABC15 published an expose on one of the organizations leading the pack in filing thousands of lawsuits– Advocates for Individuals with Disabilities Foundation.  

Please see full video here.

Shortly after this expose, Advocates for Individuals with Disabilities Foundation and their outside counsel Peter Strojnik filed another wave of lawsuits (almost 150!!) last week in Maricopa County Superior Court against Arizona businesses. 

There are a lot of areas that the ADA Accessibility Guidelines cover, but these lawsuits typically focus on the parking lots. Readers of my blog know how much I love infographics, and ABC15 has a great graphic discussing how to achieve ADA compliance for the parking lot signage and parking space issues that arise in these lawsuits: 

Many local companies that have not yet been sued have been exploring different methods of bringing their properties into compliance (or patting themselves on the back when they realized they already are in compliance). Once the lawsuit is filed and served, however, companies are learning that achieving ADA compliance is not always the end of the lawsuit. While a company may very well argue that the claims have been mooted, the plaintiff may disagree that the claims can/should be dismissed and the issue is forced to go to the court (where the companies can also assert many other defenses) or the parties will agree to a settlement.