Santa Paula small businesses hit with wave of lawsuits for alleged ADA violations

SANTA PAULA, Calif. (KABC) -- Downtown Santa Paula looks like old town America.

Classic buildings house small shops, almost all of which are owned by people who live there. Now, those small businesses are seeing a wave of lawsuits for alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

"I feel hurt, and I think it's an injustice," said Anna O'Reilly, who owns Anna's Cider in downtown Santa Paula. "These are small businesses, and we're all just struggling, trying to stay open."

She says when they opened, they made alterations both inside and out, and she thought everything was appropriate.

"The bathroom is compliant. We've got a ramp inside, we've got an ADA bar space. We have, again, the only bathroom, there's only one bathroom. We only need one, and it's compliant," she said.

The lawsuit against Anna's Cider is one of more than two dozen filed from early October to the end of November, all of them filed by the same person.

"Some plaintiffs are guided by doing the Lord's work and making the businesses and their communities more accessible, and others have become serial litigants," said attorney Martin Orlick, who has advised businesses on ADA compliance issues for decades, and said 20 to 30 lawsuits get filed every day across the state.

One issue is California's separate Civil Rights law. It adds more penalties when someone feels they can't visit an establishment.

"California, also under the Unruh Civil Rights Act, allows a plaintiff to recover $4,000 per occurrence every time they went to a particular business, or every time they thought of going but they realize there were barriers and they couldn't get served," explained Orlick.

Businesses facing lawsuits in Santa Paula include several restaurants.

The owner of Delia's Bakery, who wouldn't speak with Eyewitness News on camera but spoke with us over the phone, said she was worried the lawsuit could shut down her business. There's currently construction underway for a new ramp.

At Anna's Cider, it involves vehicle access. The parking lot doesn't have any outlined spaces. O'Reilly said she was told that this is legal.

"The parking lot is not striped at all. We weren't required to stripe it when we opened, so we don't have any striping, and we're being sued for not having handicap slots marked, but there are no slots marked," she said.

"Facing a lawsuit like this with something you had no idea it was coming your way, that could be the difference of staying open and shutting down," said Tracy Hanna, who owns the Santa Paula Trading Company and is also on the chamber of commerce.

She said businesses want to make their facilities more accessible but feel this is not the way to approach it.

"If I'm doing something wrong, would you please let me know and give me an opportunity to fix it before I'm hit with thousands of dollars that, like I said, would more likely shut me down," said Hanna.

Meanwhile, the city of Santa Paula worries about the long-term effects in a small town.

"It's hard because we're a very entrepreneurial community," said James Mason, the director of Community and Economic Development for the city. "A lot of small businesses and especially coming out of COVID, people are operating hand to mouth. Something like this can really destroy an economy and a small community."

Eyewitness News tried contacting So Cal Equal Access Group, the law firm that is handling all the lawsuits, to get a comment but has not received a response.

Some worry these lawsuits are damaging to the real issues.

"The serial litigation has a very negative effect, and it's counterproductive to what genuine advocates are looking for," said Orlick.