Letter: Possible ADA violation lawyer in town, South Lake Tahoe Chamber alerts businesses

The South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce wants to alert our local businesses that there is a man driving around town taking photos and videos of buildings, focusing on the access points (doors, ramps, and walkways) and parking lot signage. The man said his name is “Alex.”

Years ago, the small businesses in our town were hit with multiple ADA lawsuits and complaints all coming from Carmichael attorney Scott Johnson. He would send a letter to the local business stating it is not in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and asking the recipient to bring the property up to code or provide him documents detailing the business’s ADA compliance. He then follows up with demands for money, usually between $4,500 and $12,000 for him to “go away.”

This is extortion, and our Chamber strongly recommends any business receiving such a letter reach out to legal counsel before responding. While we of course want to promote our local businesses to be ADA compliant to make our town more accessible to our disabled community and tourists, we strongly condemn this type of legal pressure and extortion which is almost always aimed at our small businesses.

Now is a good time to review your business’s ADA compliance plan. Having an ADA compliance plan in place and making progress on it before receiving a letter is the best way to avoid ending up in a lawsuit over accessibility issues according to a top ADA attorney who spoke to this issue back in 2010.

Amanda Adams
President
South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce