The Culver City Chamber of Commerce today applauded Gov. Brown’s signature of Senate Bill 1186, to protect California businesses from predatory legal action while improving access for members of the disabled community.
With his signature, the measure is now California law.
This bipartisan effort, co-authored by Senate President pro-tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and Sen. Bob Dutton (R-Inland Empire) passed with overwhelming support as an urgency measure.
“We are pleased to have played a leading role in fighting for passage of this bill,” said Chamber Chairman Goran Eriksson. “It stops unscrupulous attorneys from drowning business owners in legal paperwork, while not solving the underlying issue of access for the disabled.”
Mr. Eriksson said many Culver City businesses have been the victim of “demand for money letters.”
The bill brings reform to the state’s disability access law by prohibiting “demand for money” letters, where attorneys target businesses with alleged minor access violations and aggressively pursue a quick monetary settlement in lieu of a more expensive lawsuit or fixing the problem to improve access.
Among other provisions, the bill prevents attorneys from “stacking” multiple claims for the same alleged violation to increase monetary awards. It reduces statutory damages for businesses that fix unintentional violations within 30 to 60 days.
“The whole point of our state and federal disability access laws is to remove barriers for the disabled, giving them full and equal access to businesses like everyone else,” Mr. Steinberg said. “Until now unfortunately, it was cheaper and quicker for business owners to settle out of court than to remove the obstacles.
“SB 1186 will provide more incentives to fix the violations and enhance accessibility. After many months of working with business and disability rights advocates, this compromise applies common sense to difficult issues.”
While the new law prohibits demand letters for money or offers to settle, an attorney with a claim for damages can still send a letter to a business pointing out the alleged violation and advising the party he “may be civilly liable for actual and statutory damages for a violation of the construction-related accessibility requirement.”
A complaint must specify the alleged barrier with the date and manner in which it denied access to a person with a disability.
The new law will benefit both business owners, who no longer will be subject to these questionable tactics.
SB 1186 makes a distinction between intentional and unintentional violations. While a business or property owner would be eligible for reduced damages if the violation is unintentional and is fixed within the statutory time frame, the law preserves the full statutory damages liability for intentional violations.
Mr. Rose, President and CEO of the Chamber, may be contacted at ssssteverose@culvercitychamber.com
