The Best Defense is ADA Compliance

Is your business at risk from an ADA Lawsuit? If you have not ensured that it is 100% ADA compliant, then the answer is yes! It’s not a matter of IF you will end up with a lawsuit on your hands, but WHEN! In the state of California, violations of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, better known as the ADA, are also automatically considered human rights violations under the Unruh Act. This carries damages of $4,000 per accessibility issue. If you have multiple violations, and then you also have to face a separate ADA lawsuit, things can get expensive very quickly. So, how do you avoid this situation? The best and the only defense is ADA compliance. An experienced ADA concrete contractor like Protrk Construction® can help you address any violations on your property and work with you to resolve them before you find yourself in court.

Let’s take a closer look at the law and how an ADA concrete contractor can protect you from a lawsuit.

Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)

The Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, is a federal law designed to protect those with disabilities from discrimination in all aspects of their public lives. That includes jobs, education, transport, and access to public spaces and businesses. Disabled people should have the same access to public accommodations as their non-disabled peers.

Unruh Civil Rights Act

The Unruh Civil Rights Act is designed to provide protection from discrimination by all businesses in the state of California. This includes housing, public accommodations, government bodies, public entities, and commercial businesses. Unlike the ADA, it is not limited to discrimination on the grounds of disability. It covers all kinds of discrimination, including sex, race, color, religion, age, immigration status, sexual orientation, nationality, and language. The law is enforced by the Department of Fair Employment and Housing.

Start With a CASp Inspection

If you want to protect your business from an ADA or Unruh lawsuit, you need to take steps to get ADA compliant. As an experienced ADA concrete contractor, we would recommend starting with a CASp inspection. We work with several CASps in the area and can put you in touch with those we recommend. CASp stands for Certified Access Specialist. This individual is certified by the California Division of State Architect to inspect properties for appropriate accessibility.

California introduced the CASp program via Senate Bill 1608 in response to a growing number of shakedown lawsuits against business owners in California. Since the state has some of the strictest laws in terms of civil rights, it has become one of the most litigious of all states when it comes to ADA and Unruh violations. Many of the lawsuits filed are not done in the spirit in which the laws were intended but instead are just a quick way for the plaintiff to make money. So-called drive-by lawsuits have become a big problem. Individuals drive around purposely seeking out ADA violations and then filing a lawsuit against the business despite never having any intention of visiting the business.

A CASp inspection can offer some level of protection against these malicious lawsuits. Facilities that a qualified CASp has inspected can be granted Qualified Defendant status even if they are not 100% compliant. This means that they have proof that a CASp inspected the property before the lawsuit was filed, demonstrating intent to resolve the accessibility issues highlighted in the CASp report. The report will identify the violations and make recommendations for improvement, including a reasonable timeframe for an ADA concrete contractor to make the changes. If a lawsuit is filed before the renovations can be completed, having qualified defendant status will allow the courts to postpone the legal proceedings to allow time for the work to be carried out. It may also allow the statutory damages to be reduced from $4000 per violation to $1000. If the CASp inspection finds the property to be fully compliant, a certificate will be issued to that effect.

When you choose Protrk Construction® as your ADA concrete contractor, one call does it all. We have got your back from design through build and on to certification.

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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.