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This is Jim Butler, author of www.HotelLawBlog.com and hotel lawyer. Please contact me at Jim Butler at jbutler@jmbm.com or 310.201.3526.

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:

22 February 2012

Hotel Lawyer with “Potential Indicators of Terrorist Activities Related to Hotels and Motels.”

Hoteliers, I have 3 questions for you:

  1. Do you know the red flags of suspicious activity that may indicate a terrorist is staying at your hotel?
  2. Do you know what to do when you see these red flags?
  3. Do you know what the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) say about these matters?

Recently, the FBI and the BJA set up a joint regional intelligence center, a hotline, and published a Release with some tips specifically for hotels and motels. Here are the highlights from the Release, as well as a link to download the full text.

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:

3 February 2012

While no one has a crystal ball to accurately predict the future of the hospitality industry, Eric Stossel, Managing Editor of Lodging Hospitality has the next best thing: access to experts and insiders who have their fingers on the pulse of the industry. I was recently interviewed by Eric, along with other hospitality practitioners, for one of his articles that forecast the year ahead (see Capital Markets Key to Hotel Real Estate Rebound).

There was plenty of prognosticating going on by pundits at the ALIS conference in Los Angeles this week, as well, and I took a lot of notes. Here’s what the experts think the hospitality world will look like in 2012.

CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

20 January 2012

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

ADA pop quiz

In less than 2 months, on March 15, 2012, new ADA Standards become mandatory. If you can’t answer “YES” to each of the following three questions, you may be in trouble.

  1. Do you know what the new ADA Guidelines will require for your hotel, restaurant, or other “place of public accommodation”?
  2. Do you know that there is NO “grandfathering” to escape the most sweeping changes to the ADA Standards in 20 years?
  3. Have you done everything the law requires to bring your property into compliance with the new rules?

CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

19 January 2012

Hotel lawyer in Los Angeles, looking at a new first in the hotel conference industry. The Americas Lodging Investment Summit or ALIS runs next week from Monday through Wednesday, January 23-25, 2012, at the JW Marriott in downtown Los Angeles. ALIS is one of the major annual hotel investment conferences and gets some of the best attendance in the industry. In 2012, it returns to Los Angeles after several years of being held in San Diego. It is always a great way to get a handle on what’s happening in the hotel industry at the beginning of the year, and many of us look forward to it as a regular annual event.

However, this year, the conference is creating something of a stir with what seems to be an industry first. For several weeks, rumors have abounded that the conference promoter, BHN, has “bought out” all of the public space at the JW Marriott. The practical impact of this is that only people with ALIS Conference badges will be permitted in any of the public spaces at the conference hotel.

Today, I received an e-mail sent to all registered ALIS delegates. It confirmed the rumors. Among other things, this e-mail from the “Alice Registration Team” said the following:

Security will be tight at both the JW Marriott Hotel and Nokia Theatre. ALIS has secured all public areas at the JW Marriott Hotel beginning Monday, January 23. In order to access both venues, only registered ALIS delegates with ALIS name badge and picture ID will be granted admittance.

CONTINUE READING →

Published on:

17 January 2012

Hotel Lawyer on Hotel Management Agreement disputes between Owners and Hotel Operators.

While there are always disputes simmering between hotel owners and hotel operators, the past few years has witnessed a big increase in the number of disputes ripening to litigation and arbitration. In a recent article, we discussed some of the root causes of this trend and role of the economy. That article was entitled, “Litigation and disputes between hotel owners and operators are on the rise. Why?”

I believe that most owner-operator disputes stem from the owner’s belief that the operator is not operating the hotel in a satisfactory manner and is treating the owner unfairly. A bad economy drives the parties to take action. When discussions fail to resolve the issues, litigation or arbitration claims often result.

Operators as fiduciaries: Why is this important and what does it mean?

As I mentioned in the recent article, some of these disputes pivot on the fiduciary responsibility of the operator. This is an important legal concept for hotel owners to understand. Generally, a hotel operator is the “agent” of the owner. Every agent is a fiduciary. A fiduciary has many duties such as a duty of loyalty, full disclosure, and noncompetition. A fiduciary also has a duty to prefer his principal’s interest (the owner’s interests) over his own interests.

I discussed these important concepts in a sidebar recently published in an article by Jason Freed of HotelNewsNow (a division of Smith Travel Research) in his article, Economic woes drive owner-operator disputes. I have reprinted that sidebar below with a few formatting edits to make the reading a bit easier.

CONTINUE READING →

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