Assembly Bill No

AB 1521 (Assembly Judiciary Committee) High-Frequency Litigants in Construction-Related Accessibility Claims AB 1521 seeks to give new tools to small PROBLEM businesses for responding to construction- According to the California Commission on related accessibility claims and to limit the Disability Access (CCDA), more than half practice of high-volume lawsuits motivated (54%) of all complaints filed in the state by the goal of obtaining quick settlements between September 2012 and October with business owners, rather than 2014 alleging violations of construction- correcting violations of construction-related related accessibility standards were filed by accessibility standards. AB 1521 will help just two law firms. Forty-six percent of all small businesses combat the problem of complaints were filed by just 14 parties. serial Unruh-ADA litigation in a number of ways: EXISTING LAW Under the federal Americans with  Revises the notice received by Disabilities Act (ADA), a business that business owners when a lawsuit is constitutes a place of public filed to better describe their rights accommodation (e.g. places of lodging, and responsibilities. entertainment, recreation, restaurants,  Creates a new answer form, which bars, theaters, stores, and health clubs) is will allow business owners to prohibited from discriminating on the basis respond to lawsuits and, in cases of disability if its operations affect interstate where it’s necessary or appropriate, commerce. to do so without hiring an attorney.  Defines “high-frequency litigant” Public accommodations in California are (HFL) as either a plaintiff who has required to comply with not only the ADA, filed 10 or more complaints alleging but also with the state’s Unruh Act, which violations of construction-related incorporates the ADA into its provisions accessibility standards in the past 12 and makes a violation of the ADA months; or an attorney who has punishable as a violation of Unruh. represented 10 or more such (Section 51.) All violations of Unruh are plaintiffs in the past year. subject to statutory damages of at least  Imposes new procedural four thousand dollars per violation, except requirements on HFLs, including the some cases where the violation is based following: (1) A higher filing fee for on a construction-related accessibility filing such cases; (2) Special claim, in which case lower damages (a pleading requirements; (3) If the minimum of one thousand or two thousand litigant is represented by an dollars, depending on the circumstances of attorney, certification by the attorney the case) apply. that, among other things, the complaint is not being presented SUMMARY primarily for an improper purpose, such as to harass or to cause Office of Assemblymember Mark Stone, 29th A.D.  Page 1 of 2 unnecessary delay or needless Institute of Real Estate Management increase in the cost of litigation; (IREM)  Requires attorneys who file California Downtown Association (CDA) construction-related accessibility Association of Commercial Real Estate claims to notify CCDA about how Northern and Southern California (ACRE) * their claims are resolved. National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT) STATUS California Association for Local Economic Senate Floor Development (CALED) California Grocers Association SUPPORT Consumer Attorneys of California California Business Properties Association Civil Justice Association of California FOR MORE INFORMATION International Council of Shopping Centers Contact: Alison Merrilees (ICSC) Assembly Judiciary Committee NAIOP of California, the Commercial Real (916) 319-2334 Estate Developers Association (NAIOP) [email protected] Building Owners and Managers Association of California (BOMA) Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA)

Office of Assemblymember Mark Stone, 29th A.D.  Page 2 of 2