SAN JOSE, Calif. (Legal Newsline) – A federal judge has rejected a serial plaintiff’s effort to increase damages in a lawsuit brought under a civil rights law, noticing that the quadriplegic man visited the same business multiple times despite claiming it wasn’t handicap-accessible.
Judge Beth Labson Freeman, in San Jose’s federal court, awarded only $7,280 to Scott Johnson and his lawyers at the Center for Disability Access. Johnson visited Cruz Tire & Truck Repair three times even though his complaint alleged Americans with Disabilities Act-compliance issues prevented him from returning to the business.
Johnson sought $12,000 ($4,000 in statutory damages for each trip to Cruz) but Freeman only recognized the first trip as a violation under the Unruh Act – an anti-discrimination law.
“Mr. Johnson’s words and actions are incongruent,” Freeman wrote. “This incongruity may suggest that Mr. Johnson’s actions are animated by a motive of increasing statutory damages.”
Johnson can’t walk, uses a wheelchair and has a specially equipped van. He's a lawyer who was indicted on charges of filing fraudulent tax returns two years ago.
He alleged in his lawsuit against Cruz:
-A handicap space there is not level with the access aisle and that the aisle lacks a “NO PARKING” warning;
-The entrance door has a pull-bar that requires a tight grasp; and
-The access ramp into the building has a rise that is greater than six inches and is more than six feet in length, despite only one handrail.
He filed suit a year ago against the alleged owner of the property – Garlic Farm Truck Center. The company never responded, leaving Freeman to grant default judgment to Johnson.
It was certainly not Johnson’s first time filing suit. He’s the plaintiff in thousands of others, and one of his lawyers said in November 2019 that his firm is litigating 5,000 Unruh Act cases.
A 2020 decision found that Johnson is mainly interested in increasing statutory damages in these cases, Freeman wrote.
“It is unclear why Mr. Johnson repeatedly visited Cruz Tire & Truck Repair when he knew the business was in violation of the ADA,” Freeman wrote.
“The record does not suggest that Mr. Johnson had reason to expect the access barriers would be remedied between his visits. It thus appears that Mr. Johnson’s repeated visits to Cruz Tire & Truck Repair were made in an attempt to increase statutory damages.
“District courts in the Ninth Circuit have limited statutory damages under the Unruh Act when plaintiffs engage in this behavior.”