In a recent order, U.S. District Judge Richard Dorr of the Western District of Missouri ordered American Disabilities Act “serial” plaintiff Connie Stevenson to pay 12 defendants attorney’s fees according to future proof based on her filing 12 groundless complaints against different businesses. District Judge Dorr found she did not have standing based on contradictory residency evidence belying that she would really ever return to the businesses. He found that the prevailing defendants were entitled to the fees under 42 U.S.C. § 12205, which authorizes fees for a plaintiff filing or continuing to prosecute any frivolous, unreasonable, or groundless claims. (See Steelman v. Rib Crib #18, W.D. Mo., So. Div. Case Nos. 11-3433-CV-S-RED et al. [Doc. No. 23, filed September 12, 2012].)
Quite apropos to this decision, California Governor Jerry Brown recently signed into law Senate Bill 1186 which does several things: (1) encourages correction of ADA violations and mitigation of penalties based on such cures; (2) prohibits attorney upfront demand letters for “shakedown” settlements; and (3) prevents multiple stacking of violations by suing ADA plaintiffs. Probably inspiring this legislation was this statistic: California has 40% of ADA lawsuits, but only 12% of the country’s disabled population, according to information from the California Chamber of Commerce.