"Drive-By" ADA Lawsuits Shake Down Small Business Owners In California

The US of A has laws on the books known as American Disabilities Act (ADA) that mandates public businesses be accessible to people with disabilities. The law is well-intentioned and usually well implemented. However, this did not stop some vexatiously litigious people from abuising the court system and filing frivolous "drive-by" ADA lawsuits against small business owners who can't afford to fight the issue out in court, esp. during pandemic times. 

One such litigant is Potter Handy LLP, who also operates under the title "Center for Disability Access". They supposedly represented clients complained about businesses in both SF Bay Area and Greater LA Metro Area that allegedly violated ADA guidelines. Potter Handy LLP were filing up to 3 lawsuits A DAY in California's Federal District courts right up to April 2022, when they were sued by District Attorneys of both San Francisco and Los Angeles for violating California's Unfair Competition Act. 

While the civil lawsuit by the two district attorneys were dismissed in August 2022, Potter Handy LLP has mostly stopped filing lawsuits as several of the Federal judges handling the filed cases found that many of the presented facts do not add up. The pattern seems clear: there was no demand or notice of violation or request to correct before a lawsuit was filed, and the target is often (thought not always) a mom-and-pop shop (which does not have the resources of a corporate store, nor would they have lawyers on retainer to fight such).  The lawsuit claimed the plaintiff personally encountered "unlawful barriers" often something like "door handles", narrow paths, lack of ramps, inadequate handicapped parking markings, and so on. 

Most cases were settled for between 10K to 20K. 

According to a tally by Bay City News, 3142 cases (or more) in the last four years of ADA lawsuits filed in its own district handled by Potter Handy have been "resolved". And it's known that Potter Handy handled thousands of other cases in other California districts. 

Several Federal Judges have questioned whether the plaintiffs in the Potter Handy ADA cases have been truthful. One judge found that Brian Whittaker, one of Potter Handy's most prolific litigants, "traveled to Redwood City (California) for the purpose of finding business establishments to sue", not because he was visiting the area 2-3 times a month allegedly to relocate from LA. And Whittaker had sued HUNDREDS of businesses in the area. When questioned, he could not name any of the businesses despite suing and settling with hundreds of them. Note that one of the ADA claim requirements is intent to return to the business (and thus, need the barriers removed). 

Another judge, handling some of Whittaker's cases, pointed out that Whittaker took a one-day trip to San Francisco from LA, spend 2 hours moving about "to dine" or "to shop", returned home, and filed 34 lawsuits based on his experience on that one day trip to SF. This judge has also ordered the plaintiff in other Potter Handy cases before him to file additional affidavits, under penalty of perjury, for further details, and accused Potter Handy of filing "boilerplate" complaints. 

Potter Handy insists that it is protecting the rights of the clients it handled and called the civil suit brought by the district attorneys "a political stunt". 

I call it profiting off the misery of others. 

There is No Such Thing as A-10 Blacksnake

If you routinely browse US military Youtube channels, you may be wondering, did US really get a new model of A-10 called Blacksnake? 

Screenshot of Youtube Search Results for "A-10 Blacksnake"

Unfortunately, the answer is no, this is actually just a new paint scheme for one unit: the 122nd Fighter Wing of Indiana Air National Guard, based at Fort Wayne, Indiana. The paint scheme was to celebrate the Indiana Air National Guard's 100th year in operation, with the establishment of 137th Observation Squadron, initially based at Fagley Field in Kokomo, just north of Indianapolis, back in 1921. Yes, this was LAST-year's news. 

Yet the Youtube videos are only few months old. Are they reall this click-bait-y?   

So why "Blacksnake"? According to the ANG unit, blacksnake was a nickname given to Anthony Wayne by the Native Americans he fought. Later, Fort Wayne was named after Anthony Wayne. Supposedly, the local Native Americans gave Wayne the title after he instructed his soldiers to lie in ambush, and only strike at point-blank range, much like the native black snakes, according to a book. 

Which is why you should NEVER trust Youtube videos, unless you can verify the information yourself. I welcome a new A-10, but this ain't it. 

More Flori-DUH: DeSantis Threatens to fine Special Olympics $27.5M If Vaccine Requirements Kept

Apparently, the rights of some unnamed (and uncounted) "antivax Special Olympians" are more important than keeping everyone safe, according to DeSantis. 

SCOOP: The State of Florida threatened the Special Olympics with $27.5 MILLION in fines because the organization had a vaccine requirement at its games in Orlando this weekend.

Late yesterday, the Special Olympics pulled the requirement. 1/3

— Jay O'Brien (@jayobtv) June 3, 2022

DeSantis is a COVID denier in all but name and has persistently tried to downplay death rates. Even his state surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, has no experience managing epidemics or in public health, and is a signer of GBD, calling COVID preparations "COVID mania".  

Combined with his "don't say gay" bill, a kick in the Tampa Bay Ray's shins on their quest for a new stadium just because Ray's expressed support for a bit more gun safety, and other political theater to appeal to conservatives, it's pretty clear he, like Abbott in Texas, is just setting himself up as a Trump successor in two years by abusing the power of his office. 

Flori-DUH Governor DeSantis Proves Again He's More About Politics Than Floridians

According to Ron Filipkowski, quoting OutKick, it seems that DeSantis will veto $35 million for Tampa Bay Rays training facility, because the team spoke out against gun violence in the wake of the two recent mass shootings. 

Desantis will veto the bill to fund the Tampa Rays new Spring Training facility because of their recent statements about gun violence following the Buffalo and Uvalde mass shootings. pic.twitter.com/TcpvMJHN7Y

— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) June 2, 2022

You may ask, why do Tampa Bay Rays need a spring training facility? 

Seems the Rays are only LEASING their current spring training facility in Port Charlotte, Florida and their lease runs out in 2028. The idea is to build a complex of multiple practice fields, a stadium, clubhouse, training facilities, catering and cafeteria for both players and visitors, player housing, and parking, so while the primary tenant is away or off-season, the fields can be used by other local teams, both amateur and professional. 

The idea is to retain the Rays in Florida because the Rays need a better home stadium. While they have played at Tropicana Stadium at St. Petersburg, FL, they want a better stadium than the 32-year-old stadium which only has a capacity of 25K fans, and their lease runs out in 2027.  And the construction of both a spring training facility AND a new stadium would keep the Rays in Pasco County, near Tampa. 

DeSantis vetoing this would almost guarantee Rays leaving unless a different deal can be struck between now and then. 

Talk about cutting off one's nose to spite one's face, but that's DeSantis for you. He's rather use every opportunity to help his political views than to do the right things for all Floridians.     

Banning Abortion Was NEVER About Protecting the Unborn or the Mother

The latest leak to Politico of how SCOTUS may be thinking was a shocker... They are seriously thinking about ending Roe v Wade. 

Texas, and many southern states have been waging their war on abortion by passing increasingly stricter controls on who can provide such procedures, and the amount of paperwork and time delay the woman must go through to get one. 

Multiple states have previously attempted to either try to give the father a right to veto the abortion or require the father to be notified. Both were struck down by previous SCOTUS, but if RvW was overturned, one can expect such prior decisions to be moot. 

And just to point out the inequities, a father is NOT allowed a "financial abortion", since he never wanted kids, and his partner got pregnant anyway (sometimes, through extraordinary measures, such as stealing a spent condom...). The court ruled that a child's need for support supersedes the father's interests. 

But what they don't realize, or care about, is the law of unintended circumstances. 

What do you think the father would do if the pregnant woman was FORCED by the government and circumstances to carry the child to term, and he cannot opt-out of that responsibility? 

Do you really think he'll just turn into a productive citizen for the sake of the child? 

Some may, but some will seek a different solution. 

This answer will be extremely disturbing, but also terribly obvious. 

The answer is... murder. 

Between 2018 and 2019, HOMICIDE is the LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH for pregnant women (and newborn mothers) by "more than twofold" over the other leading causes of maternal mortality.

 

Think about that. 

A woman, merely by being pregnant, is MORE likely to die by homicide, compared to the non-pregnant population of the same age and race. 

Think about that. 

Further tightening the ban on abortion will only make this worse. 

We are already in the age of COVID and Qanon. Qanon fodders have killed their wives just because they read somewhere that their wives are contaminated with lizard DNA or some such nonsense. Add stress of COVID to that, THEN add the idea of an UNWANTED family, what do you think would happen? 

In an alleged attempt to save one life, the anti-abortion laws are killing two, three if you count the (don't-wanna-be) father. 

It's not about saving lives. 

It's about control. 

It was always about control. 

COVIDiocy Victim: Her Co-Morbidity was Belief in Conspiracy Theories

A family grieves after their matriarch has died from COVID. But she didn't have to die. She died because she believed in various conspiracy theories, such as "COVID is a hoax". 

While 75, she is otherwise a healthy individual that have plenty of years left... Her name was Stephanie, and this is her story. 

No doubt, COVID deniers like her will claim that "COVID isn't dangerous to healthy people", and she paid the price while the pundits deny her existence by claiming she had co-morbidities. 

She refused TWO treatments that could have saved her because she heard that the treatments will kill her. 

Her husband, who was infected by her, took all the treatments. He was out of the hospital after just five days. She never left. 

Her co-morbidity is her belief in conspiracy theories. 

The COVIDiot Terrorist: A Train Engineer Who Crashed a Train Believing He's Revealing a Conspiracy

Back in March 2020, the first wave of COVID just hit the US, and things were looking dire. So dire, that US Navy called in its 2 hospital ships, USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort, to Los Angeles and New York respectively, "just in case". Each ship can provide up to 1000 beds for non-COVID patients, leaving the local hospitals to handle COVID. 

USNS Mercy, hospital ship, photo courtesy of MayorOfLA Tweet

USNS Mercy arrived on March 27, 2020, and admitted its first patient on March 29, 2020. It would keep doing so until May 15th, 2020, serving 7 weeks, before returning to its homeport of San Diego, having only treated about 80 patients around Los Angeles. 

But some did not believe the stated mission of the ships. Someone believed the ships have a sinister purpose, either COVID-related or it's some sort of government takeover. That would be Eduardo Moreno, a train engineer for a small port freight line that services the Port of Los Angeles. And he believed if he cause a serious incident, he can bring media attention to reveal the conspiracy. 

On March 31st, 2020, Eduardo Moreno derailed a freight train by intentionally ramming it through the end stops, multiple walls, and a parking lot. He ended up about 250 yards from the ship. When CHP officer confronted him, he freely admitted to the deed. 

The crash caused a diesel spill, in addition to about 700000 in damages done to the locomotive and surrounding structures. There were no injuries. 

So whatever he believed, it's... definitely COVIDiocy. And he's being charged as a terrorist by FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force. 

After being put in jail and under further interviews, it was revealed that he was a Qanon believer, and allegedly suffered a psychosis helped by way too much caffeine. He bought into the conspiracy that USNS Mercy is an extermination ship for "open-minded healthy people". After psychiatric treatment, he is believed to have recovered from his COVIDiocy episode, had disavowed Qanon, and is taking medication for his condition. 

Eduardo Moreno was recently sentenced to 3 years in prison and ordered to pay 755880 in restitution. 

Don't be a COVIDiot.