PHOENIX (Legal Newsline) — Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said his office has been turning the tide in the fight to protect small businesses in the state from “drive-by” litigation alleging violations of laws protecting the disabled.
“Across the country, serial litigators are targeting businesses with disability access lawsuits and exploiting our vulnerable citizens for their own financial gain,” Brnovich wrote in a recent post on his website. “I saw these lawsuits flooding Arizona courts and knew someone had to protect our community from abusive litigation practices, especially those that exploit individuals with disabilities.”
Brnovich said in February his office achieved a significant victory when a judge dismissed more than a thousand open lawsuits filed by a group called Advocates for Individuals with Disabilities (AID). According to Brnovich, this group targeted Arizona businesses with “drive-by” disability access lawsuits. AID allegedly submitted 1,700 lawsuits against businesses in the state.
“The copy-and-paste lawsuits alleged that businesses’ parking lots did not comply with regulations related to persons with disabilities,” Brnovich wrote. “Many of the issues were minor and easily fixable, but the lawsuits sought thousands of dollars in damages and attorneys’ fees.”
Brnovich fought to have these complaints dismissed because he saw these practices as harming Arizonans.
“As attorney general, I also have an obligation to ensure that we don’t tolerate serial litigators who try to shake down hardworking businesses by exploiting the disability community,” Brnovich wrote.