How to Avoid an ADA Lawsuit

Did you know? As many as 95% of commercial buildings violate ADA guidelines, and most property owners have no idea! Ignorance is not a valid defense when you find yourself facing a federal lawsuit or human rights case! The only truly valid defense against an ADA lawsuit is ADA compliance. Let’s talk about avoiding ADA lawsuits and what an ADA concrete contractor can do to help you.

What is the ADA?

ADA is short for the Americans with Disabilities Act. This legislation is designed to ensure that people with disabilities can have equal access to the same resources as non-disabled individuals. In order to offer equal access, property owners need to consider how disabled people will use their buildings. That means making sure there is accessible parking, installing curb ramps, access routes, and ADA doors that anyone can use regardless of their disabilities. An ADA concrete contractor is a great choice when you need a contractor to make sure that you are meeting all of the requirements laid out in the ADA.

The thing to remember is that the ADA is very precise in its measurements, and it is expected that property owners follow it to the exact letter of the law. Simply ‘trying’ to be more accessible is not enough. You must make the specific changes required to make sure that your building is ADA compliant, and there is almost no margin for error. That’s why a specialist ADA concrete contractor is a better option than a general contractor who may not completely understand how tight the tolerances are for ADA compliance.

Why is ADA Compliance Important?

Taking the steps necessary to make your building ADA compliant is important for a number of different reasons, but let’s look at some of the specific reasons why your business will benefit from working with an ADA concrete contractor.

• Avoiding a Federal Lawsuit - If you face a federal ADA lawsuit, you will face stiff financial penalties. In almost all cases, it is cheaper to fix the ADA violations preemptively before a lawsuit is filed than it is to fight the lawsuit. Can your business really afford to risk it?
• Avoiding Civil Rights Violations - In the state of California, it isn’t just the ADA that you need to be concerned about. A federal lawsuit is expensive enough, but under the UNRUH Act, each individual violation of the ADA is also considered a civil rights violation. This carries a minimum damages award of $4000 per violation. Unfortunately, this has given rise to a spate of drive-by lawsuits from people out to make a fast buck!
• Increasing Customers By 25% - There are over 60 million Americans registered as having some form of disability, defined as a physical or mental impairment that limits daily life. That equates to about 25% of adults. If your business is not accessible to disabled customers, you are potentially turning away 1 in 4 customers! In fact, given that most disabled consumers will then tell their non-disabled friends about your ADA violations, you could lose even more business when they stop coming in solidarity with their disabled friends.
• Improve Your Reputation - Aside from the potential financial losses, or lost customers, one of the main reasons to make your business ADA compliant is that it is great for your reputation. Aside from the fact that an ADA lawsuit could paint you in an unflattering light, it is important to think about how much power positive reputations have. In today’s society, consumers choose businesses that they perceive to have good morals and a social conscience. Catering to disabled community members is simply the right thing to do, and consumers will take note of it. Even within the disability community itself, word of mouth is golden. People will share their bad experiences with a lack of accessibility and make recommendations to people when they have a good experience.

If you are unsure about your commercial property’s ADA status, reach out to an ADA concrete contractor to discuss an inspection and come up with a plan to get ADA compliant and avoid facing an expensive lawsuit.

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Design | Build | Certified

Why Wait to be "Forced" into ADA Compliance. If you are a public business or public property owner, save money, lawsuits, time and headaches by being prepared and avoiding it all in the first place. It’s time to call in the ADA pros. Use Protrk, an ADA construction expert, to Get it Done Right Prior to Forced Compliance. 

Call 415-813-9877 today or visit www.protrkconstruction.com for more details.