Best hamburgers in Sacramento, CA
Ford's Real Hamburgers -- voted one of the
best hamburgers in the Sacramento area.
Closed
because of ADA ruling -- it's a 60 year old building:
Landmark Calif. Burger Joint Forced to Shut Down Over ADA Lawsuit
A decades-old Sacramento, Calif. burger joint is shutting its doors for being out of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act because the owner says he can�t afford to bring it up to code.
Ford�s Real Hamburgers has been slinging burgers, fries and shakes for years, but was hit hard in the recession. Now, KTXL-TV is reporting that a local attorney who makes his living filing ADA cases � many on his own behalf � is suing the restaurant � and Ford�s can�t keep up.
�We scrimped and saved and cut down the staff. I�m down to six employees,� owner Hank Vereschzagin told KTXL.
As the station noted, Ford�s is indeed out of ADA compliance: There isn�t enough room to roll into the bathroom in a wheelchair. But Vereschzagin said he just doesn�t have the money to fix the more than 60-year-old building.
�I don�t know. I don�t know what I�m going to do next,� he said. �I just know I can�t keep this open.�
The lawyer in question -- Scott Johnson -- is vile scumbag.
Sure, I am very sorry that he was hit by a drunk driver in 1981 and landed in a wheelchair.
But to do what he is doing now is pathetic -- it is a naked gaming of the system for personal profit with no thought for those poor people whose lives he is impacting.
From the
Sacramento, CA ABC affiliate news10:
Disabled attorney defends his 1,000+ ADA lawsuits
A quadriplegic attorney who has filed more than 1,000 federal lawsuits claiming violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act says he's an agent of change. But his critics choose different words.
Scott Johnson, 47, was disabled by a hit and run drunk driver in 1981. For the past six years, Johnson has been on an ADA enforcement crusade that has potentially earned him millions of dollars. He operates out of his home in Carmichael with a team of legal assistants.
A News10 analysis of federal court records in the Eastern District of California indicated Johnson has been the plaintiff in at least 1,079 ADA lawsuits since 2003. Johnson said he hadn't kept count, but did not dispute the number. He said his average settlement with business owners has been between $4,000 and $6,000.
From the
California Mountain Democrat:
ADA attorney forces out small business in Pollock
It�s not the first time a small business has closed due to pending litigation. In small communities all over California businesses, mostly in older buildings built before the 1990 passage of the Americans with Disability Act, are closing because they aren�t able to completely comply with it.
Pony Espresso at 6401 Pony Express Trail in Pollock Pines, is one of the newest to close its doors, unable to afford an attorney to fight a federal law.
�Our bathroom is not compliant,� said Jo Thurston, who with husband Harry has owned the business for five years. �When people with disabilities come here we accomodate them, but this is closing down a lot of mom-and-pop places, turning historical areas into corporate America. My husband is going to paint houses and I don�t know what I�m going to do yet.�
In December, a number of Pollock Pines businesses received letters from Carmichael-based ADA attorney Scott Johnson indicating a lawsuit filed against them for ADA non-compliance and offering to settle out of court for a sum of money, a practice described by many victims as legal extortion and by critics as unethical.
While the law is designed to give disabled full access to public and private businesses, it has also become a lucrative business for attorneys like Johnson, who has filed more than 1,079 ADA lawsuits since 1996.
And from Northern California's
Sierra Sun:
Disabled lawyer Scott Johnson cranks out ADA lawsuits
Scott Johnson calls himself a crusader for the disabled. The hundreds of small businesses he routinely sues call him a legal extortionist.
Welcome to the rough and tumble world of providing access to the disabled. At the heart of the matter is the American with Disabilities Act, the controversial federal law requiring a minimum level of access in all public places.
Disabled advocates say since no government agency enforces the law, that task has fallen to private attorneys who file lawsuits to compel the noncompliant to provide equal access to all. Because of a quirk in California law, the state stands out as a magnet for disabled-access lawsuits and several lawyers have made a name for themselves as frequent filers.
Few, though, are as prolific as Johnson.
Since 2004, Johnson has filed more than 1,000 boiler plate lawsuits in Sacramento federal court, slightly tweaking the documents to fit the target: a restaurant 's service counter is too high or an apartment complex doesn't have enough disabled parking. Just last week, the Carmichael lawyer filed more than two dozen lawsuits, mostly aimed at apartment complexes.
Scott Johnson, I am sorry about your accident. I have known a number of good friends in wheelchairs and I wish I could make every one of them get up and walk again.
That being said, you are one of the biggest assholes I have ever read about.
You are a grifter -- benefiting from a societal construct while causing widespread grief, pain and harm.
You are a worse hustler than Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson.
You have zero moral high-ground.
You are fscking pathetic.
Posted by DaveH at September 30, 2012 8:44 PM