It turns out crystal balls aren’t quite what they used to be. While they may be able to see into your future, they have not been able to see the rash of Americans with Disabilities (ADA) lawsuits filed against their businesses. Recently, we’ve seen an increase in ADA lawsuits targeting psychics and fortune tellers filed by So Cal Equal Access of Los Angeles. The claims follow a similar pattern: lack of accessible parking, improperly dimensioned restrooms, inaccessible paths of travel to the building entrances, missing signage, or websites incompatible with screen readers. While these ADA violations are generally easy to fix, if given advance warning, the first notification is when a process server shows up at the front door, but then, it’s too late. For small, cash-based businesses like psychics and fortune tellers, these lawsuits can permanently close doors.
The reality is, whether you can predict lawsuits or not, ADA compliance has been the law since at least 1991. The worst thing to do is ignore ADA compliance.
Building owners who lease to psychics and the businesses operators are equally liable to the plaintiff and both are frequently named in the same lawsuit. Whether you are the landlord or the tenant, here are a few things you may want to consider to provide better service to customers and to avoid litigation: