Archives

Published on:

06 March 2012

Click here for the latest articles on ADA Compliance and Defense.

As you should know by now if you are following developments on the Americans with Disabilities Act (or ADA), the most sweeping changes to the ADA in 20 years become effective on March 15, 2012.

It seems that almost every day there is some new development or interpretation of the new rules. For an up-to-date summary of some key provisions, please see articles listed at the end of this posting.

A number of us in the hotel industry have been visiting the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division to get clarification on the recent DOJ guidance on “fixed” pool lifts.

Congressmen intervene with DOJ on pool lift issues

Last week, two prominent Congressmen, Mike Mulvaney and Todd Rokita, jumped into the fray with a letter to DOJ (see below) acknowledging its important efforts to provide swimming pool access to the disabled community. Here are a few highlights from the letter and the full text is below.

CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

25 February 2012

Click here for the latest articles on ADA Compliance and Defense.

Hotel ADA defense and compliance lawyer

It is always a good feeling when someone you respect pays you a nice compliment. That’s what happened yesterday when GlobeSt.com gave JMBM’s ADA Compliance and Defense Lawyers quite an acknowledgement. Miriam Lamey covers the hotel sector for GlobeSt.com.

Last week Miriam called me for an interview to go over some of the subject Marty Orlick and I have been writing about recently to help the hotel industry understand the meaning and importance of new ADA regulations which will go into effect March 15, 2012. I put her in touch with Marty and here is the interview that GlobeSt.com ran on February 24, 2012.
Hotels Handle Pool Lift Regulations
from GlobeST.com February 24, 2012
by
Miriam Lamey

SAN FRANCISCO-The Department of Justice gave March 15 as the deadline for all hotel properties to install pool lifts for disabled guests who could not otherwise use the facilities independently. According to the DOJ, these lifts must be fixed, well-maintained, and exclusive to each pool.

Recently, Martin H. Orlilck, an Americans with Disabilities defense lawyer, sat down with GlobeSt.com’s Miriam Lamey to discuss the impending deadline and how the hotel industry has and will respond to the requirements.

A question and answer session follows:

CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

24 February 2012

Click here for the latest articles on ADA Compliance and Defense.

You have certainly heard about the new rules going into effect on March 15 under the Americans with Disabilities Act or “ADA.” Here is some straight talk about WHY you should act now, and WHAT you should do.

5 REASONS YOU SHOULD ACT NOW!

  1. March 15, 2012 is the effective date for the most sweeping changes to the ADA in 20 years.
  2. These changes directly affect every hotel owner and operator in the United States.
  3. Experts expect that a tidal wave of private lawsuits and DOJ enforcement actions will start on March 16, 2012, and that it will dwarf the 12,000 lawsuits filed over the past five or six years under the original ADA.
  4. Owners and operators are each jointly and severally liable for violations of the ADA, and they will likely both be sued. Most ADA claims are not covered by insurance, but most management agreements will require owners to pay or indemnify operators for such claims.
  5. It is much cheaper to prevent lawsuits than to fight them. You can pay a little now to avoid the problem, or you can pay a lot more later to deal with it.

Why act now? It is the law. It is the right thing to do. It is much more cost-effective to prevent lawsuits that to fight them.

If you wait and get sued or investigated by the DOJ, in addition to the cost of making the property fully compliant, you may get hit with fines, plaintiff’s attorneys’ fees and costs. Some states, like California, also can award damages. And the DOJ can fine hotels up to $55,000 for the first ADA offense and $110,000 for each subsequent offense.

CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

8 February 2012

Click here for the latest articles on ADA Compliance and Defense.

Hotel ADA defense and compliance lawyer

As everyone scrambles to meet the March 15, 2012 deadline for complying with the new ADA Standards, the mandatory pool lift requirement is getting a lot of attention. Here is the latest from my partner, Marty Orlick, head of our ADA defense and compliance team.

What the DOJ says about portable pool lifts
and the new ADA Standards

by
Martin H. Orlick, Esq. | ADA Compliance and Defense Lawyer

A hotel client called this morning to tell me that they were about to place an order for a large number of portable pool lifts to comply with the 2010 ADA Standards, and asked whether they should take the plunge and buy them.

Without a doubt, the most frequently asked question by our hospitality clients these days is: “What do we need to do to comply with the March 15, 2012 mandatory ADA pool lift requirements?” The second most frequently asked question is: “Our pool lift vendor assures us that its portable pool lift meets all ADA requirements and is “certified” as ADA compliant? Can we rely on that representation?” If you are confused about what the new law requires, you have plenty of company.

The new ADA Standards effective March 15, 2012

The 2010 ADA Standards for pool access have significantly changed the requirements for municipal and private pools by requiring, for the first time, that they be equipped with independently useable pool lifts during all operating hours. Since the DOJ announced its intention to require lifts in nearly all pools, the hotel industry and others have opposed or sought clarification of this provision.

CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

7 February 2012

Click here for the latest articles on ADA Compliance and Defense.

ADA defense and compliance lawyer with some tips for owners and operators of GOLF COURSES. Golf courses are one type of “public accommodation” (along with hotels, restaurants, retail stores and the like) specifically targeted by the new ADA Standards that become effective March 15, 2012.

The new ADA Standards, discussed below, represent a a big change in the legal standard applicable to golf facilities. If you have not analyzed this yet, you may be very surprised. If you have not conducted an accessibility survey of your course and implemented a compliance plan, time is running out.

We predict that “advocacy groups” and the Department of Justice will be very aggressive in enforcing the new ADA Standards and looking to make a few examples for all to notice. You don’t want to be an example!

So, here are some interesting details of how the new ADA standards will apply to golf courses, from ADA defense and compliance Lawyer, Marty Orlick, my partner who heads our ADA practice. Marty and his team are not “Johnny Come Latelys” to this area. They have more than 20 years’ experience in counseling clients on ADA compliance and have defended about 500 ADA lawsuits. So they really understand the practical nitty-gritty of what is important and what is not.

CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

21 November 2011

Click here for the latest articles on ADA Compliance and Defense.

ADA Defense & Compliance Lawyers. Is your pool, spa and fitness facility compliant with the ADA 2010 Regulations? If you think your property is grandfathered, then you are wrong! There is no grandfathering.

As we mentioned in our recent posted article “Updating Service Animal Policies of Your Hotel,” the Department of Justice published revised final regulations implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for title III (public accommodations and commercial facilities) on September 15, 2010 (the “2010 Regulations”).

Based on the 2010 Regulations, all “Public Accommodations,” including “Places of Lodging” (hotels, resorts, most timeshares, restaurants, etc.) must bring certain elements of the facilities described below into compliance with the 2010 ADA Standards as of March 15, 2012.

  • No one is exempt.
  • There is no safe harbor.
  • The ADA’s “readily achievable” standard will apply.

 

If you are not already working on bringing your property into compliance, then you should call us to assist you with the creation of a compliance policy.

CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

3 October 2011

Click here for the latest articles on ADA Compliance and Defense.

ADA Defense & Compliance Lawyers. What are some of the most common questions asked of our ADA Defense Lawyers? Many of them relate to “service animal” policies at hotels, restaurants and other places of public accommodation. One of the most read articles on Hotel Law Blog was a posting I did 5 years ago on this subject. Who’s crying “Woof”? What you must know about the ADA requirements for disabled guests and their service animals . . .

But with recent developments, we thought it was time to update that information with the effect of the latest amendments to the regulations on this subject published by the Department of Justice implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Many thanks to hotel lawyers David Sudeck and Marty Orlick for their help on this article.

CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

15 February 2011

Click here for the latest articles on ADA Compliance and Defense.

The hotel lawyers at JMBM’s Global Hospitality Group® see a lot of ADA cases and believe the claims will increase tremendously in the next few years as a result of the current political climate, new regulations, higher priorities assigned by the Department of Justice, and passionate private litigants seeking to make the world ADA-compliant.

We get several calls every week from people served with new ADA complaints. Most of these hotel and restaurant owners just want to resolve the litigation at the lowest possible cost, including both the compliance cost and legal fees. Of course they don’t want to be sued by another plaintiff on the same, or similar, claim a week later, but that is a somewhat different problem that we also deal with.

JMBM’s ADA defense team has defended more than 450 ADA claims. We know almost all the plaintiffs, their strategies, their hot buttons, and their weaknesses. We know how to defend or settle cases with the least exposure to future claims and at the lowest all-in cost.

CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

20 January 2011

Click here for the latest articles on ADA Compliance and Defense.

 

What do movie theaters and hotels have in common? For one thing, both movie theaters and hotels are considered “public accommodations” under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and both are required to provide disabled patrons equal access to facilities, including accessibility to movies, slideshows, and other audio and video presentations. In some instances, new technology can make it easier to achieve equal access… but it still can be a challenge.

A recent class action filed against Cinemark USA Inc. for discrimination against hearing impaired individuals due to lack of closed-captioning in theaters could have broad implications for hotels, particularly conference centers and hotels which cater to meetings and group business, in addition to hotels which cater to state organizations and governmental groups.

I was talking about this case the other day with my partner, ADA defense lawyer Marty Orlick. Marty is an expert in ADA defense and counseling, having defended owners and operators of properties in more than 450 cases. After a little collaboration, Marty put together a summary of the Cinemark case and its implications for the hotel industry. There is more to it than meets the eye.

What responsibilities do hotels have to deaf and hard of hearing guests? And what are the exceptions? How do hotels best protect themselves? How do hotels maximize business opportunities by providing auxiliary aides and services?

CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

3 January 2011

Click here for the latest articles on ADA Compliance and Defense.

Hotel ADA & Compliance Defense Lawyer update: We warned you about the Department of Justice (DOJ) conducting ADA “sweeps” in regions near you (Implications of the latest ADA enforcement “sweeps” against hotels in Portland and San Francisco, Is the DOJ’s ADA Compliance Survey Coming to Your City Soon? What to do when you receive the DOJ’s ADA Compliance Review questionnaire) but now we have information about the outcome of one such sweep.

Hilton Worldwide, Inc. and the DOJ came to an agreement on November 9, 2010 to make ADA changes to approximately 900 hotels internationally. Beyond the removal of architectural barriers, the changes include providing disabled guests the same room choices as other guests, guaranteeing accessible rooms will be available when they have been reserved, and making the central Internet reservation system more accessible. The agreement includes not only Hilton-owned properties, but properties where Hilton is the manager or franchisor. Click here to see the Hilton Consent Decree in US v Hilton Worldwide Inc.

Read on for a breakdown of what precedent-setting changes the Consent Decree contains and what accessibility issues you should consider before the DOJ visits your hotel.

CONTINUE READING →

Contact Information