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CALA Discusses Lawsuit Abuse on Armstrong & Getty

Recently, Marko Mlikotin, CALA's Northern California Regional Director, and the owner of the Squeeze Inn burger joint appeared on the Armstrong & Getty Show to discuss why an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) lawsuit is forcing the legendary Sacramento burger joint to close its doors and move to a new location. To hear about the costs associated with abusive lawsuits and why ADA law needs to be reformed to increase access without putting small business owners out of business, listen to the interview.

Reforming Lawsuit Abuse Can Help Rebuild California

Today, Northern California CALA Regional Director Marko Mlikotin made the case on a prominent public policy blog, Flashreport, that reforming lawsuit abuse is critical to rebuilding California's ailing  economy.  He said:

"The real challenge for today's elected leaders and the candidates seeking constitutional offices such as governor and attorney general, in particular, lies the need to rebuild our economy, create jobs and bring financial stability to public services by reforming lawsuit abuse."

Cereal Lawsuit Abuse

Newport Beach Daily Pilot reporter Paul Anderson was so amused with Maryann Maloney Marino’s recent CALA press release about a lawsuit against Cap'n Crunch “Stand Up for Capn Crunch” that he wrote a cartoon and a blog. He said:

"Maryann Maloney Marino, the regional director of Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, told me she sent out the release to make the point about how necessary tort reform is. I told her I always get a little leery of the cries for tort reform as they tend to offer the usual populist solutions that don’t always work out for the best. But she wasn’t offering up the usual bromides — the draconian crackdowns on ambulance chasers. Rather, her organization just craves legislative solutions that will discourage such abuses of the system. It’s true that anyone hassled by a frivolous lawsuit like this could seek sanctions against the plaintiff, but some of the more notorious and well-financed law firms might just consider that the cost of doing business since they’re really only interested in harassing deep-pocket defendants into shelling out settlement cash. Something does need to be done to discourage that kind of chicanery. Steeper fines or even the threat of disbarment might accomplish that. But good luck getting that through Sacramento. Assemblyman Van Tran has attempted tort reform legislation this year and it was put into what I call committee coma — in other words, it was put on a shelf never to be heard from again.

Proposed ADA Compliance Act Aims to Help Small-Biz Owners

The San Diego Business Journal quoted San Diego Regional Director Lorie Zapf in an article about federal ADA legislation authored by Rep. Duncan Hunter. The bill would give business owners sued for alleged Americans with Disabilities Act violations a grace period for making fixes. The article said:

Lorie Zapf, president of the San Diego chapter of California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, says the measure could help put a stop to “abusive, unscrupulous” lawsuits.

“Something like this really should have been there all along,” said Zapf, whose nonprofit serves as a watchdog to challenge civil justice system abuses.

ADA Reform Needed

Northern California Regional Director Marko Mlikotin had a letter-to-the-editor published in the Lincoln News Messenger on ADA abuse. He wrote:

"The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was meant to increase access for disabled people but a few unscrupulous personal-injury lawyers and professional plaintiffs have made fortunes by targeting businesses for shakedown lawsuits.

"Often, these lawsuits are filed when access has not being deterred in any way. These lawsuits don’t ask for any accessibility improvements to be made, they ask for money to make the lawsuit go away. Small businesses are often the target of these shakedowns suits and many quickly settle because of the exorbitant costs of fighting a lawsuit."

Don't Make Excuses