The Karlin Law Firm, having handled and consulted on over 4,500 ADA claims and lawsuits, is America’s premiere lawyers for ADA lawsuit defense, including defense of ADA website lawsuits, ADA real estate lawsuits, and ADA business claims and defenses, in addition to being a top-rated law firm handling commercial real estate, business, entertainment, website, and other matters. Family-run and operated, we are here to help.

We are The Karlin Law Firm LLP, the leading law firm in the nation for resolving ADA lawsuits and claims as well as representing both major corporations and small businesses in ADA cases and many other areas of the law.  We are proud to be able to provide the comprehensive knowledge and experience of a large firm and the customized personal services of a small firm.

We have resolved and consulted on over 4,500 ADA cases,  which are  ADA website lawsuits, and real estate, parking lot, retail, office, restaurant, and all other ADA claims and lawsuit. Also included are  Hotel ADA website and access lawsuits, Apartment ADA and reasonable accommodation claims. In addition, we are able to assist clients in business, commercial landlord-tenant matters, buyers and sellers of real estate and businesses, entertainment industry entrepreneurs, as well as other areas of the law, Unruh violations, including Prop 65 claims.

We are mindful of insurance issues, ADA coverage or lack thereof, deductibles, retentions, and ways to find insurance coverage that provides a greater chance for ADA lawsuit defense, indemnity and coverage, some of which may be included in ADA lawsuit protection with EPL insurance or EPLI insurance.  We can also estimate the cost of defense and range of possible indemnity and compare these estimates to a client’s “retention” or deductible for consideration.

Recent News:

September 28, 2022. Karlin Law Firm feature in the News Defending Businesses from Abusive ADA claims:

Click here for San Francisco Chronicle Article on Karlin Law and ADA Website Plaintiff Andres Gomez

Click here for Orange County Register Article on Karlin Law and ADA Website Plaintiff Andres Gomez

Click here for SF Gate Article about ADA Website claims filed by Andres Gomez and how The Karlin Law Firm uncovered what appeared to be major contradictions in his claims to need screen reading software for websites and other apparent  contradictions shown in Karlin Law’s undercover video of Andres Gomez.

Sept. 28, 2022 — Andres Gomez of Miami this week was forced to pay $8,512 in costs to Fast Toys Inc. of Los Angeles.  This follows Karlin Law’s request to the Court with a court filing allegedly  showing contradictions in Gomez’s story with an video casting doubt on his needed assistance in some of the activities he claims. The Court Filing was referred to in a prior blog written before Gomez was force to pay the Defendant.  In his lawsuit he had claimed a violation of the ADA by a Los Angeles motorsports company ‘s website because he claimed the website was not fully compatible with software he needed to access the website because of his alleged problems with vision and/or blindness, and he wanted to rent a one of the companies high powered race cars.  To Karlin’s knowledge this is the first time Gomez was forced to pay the Defendant business for the Businesses’ costs in having to defend one of the many lawsuits Gomez has filed against owners of websites.

Sept. 28, 2022 – The Karlin Law Firm won its 18th dismissal against Andes Gomez without any payment to him and without having to enter into any settlement of one of Gomez’s ADA website lawsuits.  Andres Gomez is a Florida resident who has filed more than 600 Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuits against small businesses in Florida and California.

October 1, 2022 – The Karlin Law Firm has been asked to handle over 40 ADA website claims being brought by Kyle Wong, an Orange County, California resident against 100s of small business owners, including real estate companies, and real estate agents.  A copy of his  demand can be obtained by clicking here.  In his demand, he claims he has some type of disability that makes it difficult for him to use a website without assistive technology,  but does not state what that disability might be or what specific aspect of the website is or was incompatible with his assistive technology which he does not name.  In his demand letter, based on these vague allegations he is demanding $16,000 to settle his claims and if not paid he threatens to sue the business.  Doing the math, if he were to collect that amount form all of the 40 cases (let alone the 100s of other letters he has sent), Kyle Wong would put $640,000 in his pocket for a day’s work in send out just these 40 letters.  Assuming he as sent out 10 times the number of letters, if paid, that would put $1,600,000 in his pocket.  The Orange County Register will be running a story about Kyle Wong in its Sunday, October 2, 2022 newspaper.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29, 2022  — Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Representative John P. Sarbanes (D-Md.) introduced The Websites and Software Applications Accessibility Act (S. 4998) and (H.R. 9021) in both the United States Senate and the House of Representatives.

Supporting the bill are The American Council of the Blind (ACB), the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN), and the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) We are informed that if passed as is the legislation would require the Department of Justice and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to establish a clear and enforceable uniform national framework for website and software application accessibility, including the interfacing of websites with screen reading technologies, such as JAWS and others.  It remains to be seen if there will be any exemptions for small, struggling, and tiny businesses many of which are owned by minorities and disabled persons, and if it will have any safe harbors, or objecting testing methods to for a small business to know if they are in compliance or not, and if the bill will allow the continuance of private lawsuits being filed where the plaintiff can file unfounded and weak cases and ask for money or their attorney’s fees where the business is forced to pay because it would cost them 10 times more to have to show the court the website in fact was sufficiently compliant. And it remains to be seen if the legislation will continue to provide that the plaintiff filing a very weak or unfounded case is still immune from having to reimburse the small business or its attorneys fees in having to defend the weak or unfounded case, but require the small and tiny business to pay the plaintiff’s attorney fees  should the plaintiff prevail even when there is no showing and no suggestion that the small and tiny business in any way intentionally was attempting to discriminate against people with disabilities.  It also remains to be seen if the legislation will allow for objective safe harbors that include alternatives such as a telephone help line or live chat box to assist the disabled should they encounter an issue on a website, and a safe harbor, such as a score of 85% or more on Google Lighthouse on the pages rendering difficulty following notice by a disabled person of the page where they were having difficulty.

August 30, 2022.  San Francisco. POTTER HANDY’S DEMURRER SUSTAINED ENDING DISTRICT ATTORNEY LAWSUIT. The lawsuit brought by the San Francisco District Attorney and the Los Angeles District Attorney against serial ADA plaintiff firm Potter Handy LLP has been dismissed without leave to amend. The court found that Potter Handy was protected by the litigation privilege. Read the court order here:

Court Order Dismissing District Attorney Lawsuit

Given the result, business and property owners should remain vigilante in preventing ADA lawsuits by getting inspections of their businesses and properties by Certified Access Specialists (CASp) and discussing compliance with an ADA defense attorney.

———————————————-

August 25, 2022.  KARLIN LAW FIRM FORCES DISMISSALS OF 17 ADA WEBSITE CASES FILED BY PLAINTIFF ANDRES GOMEZ, without any payment to Gomez or his attorneys.  This week, the Karlin Law Firm successfully forced Plaintiff Andres Gomez to dismiss two more of his ADA website cases, again, without any payment to Gomez or his lawyers.  That is now 17 cases where The Karlin Law Frim has forced ADA plaintiff Andres Gomez to dismiss his ADA website cases, filed against our clients, without any payment to Gomez and his lawyers, and without any requirement to make any changes on our client’s websites.  The Karlin Law has handled cases filed by for different law firms who have represented ADA plaintiff Andres Gomez, including the Potter Handy Law Frim, and three other law firms. Gomez has been using different lawyers and different law firms and filing cases in various courts, including Federal Courts, State Courts, and now is filing arbitrations, seeking to arbitrate his claims.  As the largest provider of ADA website defense in the United States, the Karlin Law Firm is able to keep track of these abusive filings.

Examples of an Andres Gomez ADA Website Lawsuit is shown here:

https://www.karlinlaw.com/andres-gomez-ada-website-lawsuits-claims/

———————————————-

August 1, 2022.  CALIFORNIA COURT OF APPEALS RULES THAT WEBSITES MUST HAVE NEXUS WITH PHYSICAL LOCATION FOR ADA TO APPLY. This week, the California Court of Appeals came down with their decision in Martinez v. Cot’N Wash Inc. ruling that the ADA only applies to websites that have a nexus to a physical store. This ruling further confirms what the 9th Circuit has previous ruled: ADA does not apply to websites that are eCommerce only. It is important to note that these rulings only apply to California lawsuits, and other jurisdictions, such and New York and Pennsylvania, still are of the position that the ADA applies to all websites. You can read the ruling here:

Martinez v. Cot’N Wash Inc. – Appeals Decision 

————————————————-

March 18, 2022.  Washington D.C.  The Department of Justice (DOJ) announces “Guidance” but still no Guidelines, no rules, no regulation, no safe harbors, regarding how to make websites “compliant” under the ADA or even what websites are considered to be under the ADA, since the DOJ’s only reference is still to “places of public accommodation” which has been subject to different interpretations, particularly in the various New York 2d Circuit Courts, in Pennsylvania’s 3d Circuit Courts, and in California’s State Courts, compared to what is a growing majority view expressed most notably by California’s 9th Circuit.  See the “Guidance” published on March 18, 2022 by the DOJ regarding ADA websites here.

____________________________

April 12, 2022.  San Francisco.  DISTRICT ATTORNEY FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST POTTER HANDY.  Potter Handy “Center for Disability Access” named in lawsuit filed by the San Francisco District Attorney against Potter Handy LLP joined by the Los Angeles District Attorney. See this link: https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2022/04/12/district-attorneys-boudin-gascon-ada-lawsuits/

See Lawsuit filed against Potter Handy, Mark Potter and others: https://sfdistrictattorney.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/PEOPLE-V-POTTER-HANDY-LLP-ET-AL-complaint-and-Exhibits.pdf

——————————————-

May 19, 2022.  San Francisco. SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — Beverly Hills attorney Kousha Berokim has been indicted by the San Francisco District Attorney for an alleged scheme demanding monetary settlements from businesses to avoid Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) website lawsuits.  Of note is Karlin Law Firm’s success in Defended over 110 such separate claims without our clients ever paying Kousha Berokim,  or the Canon Law Firm, or his client any money.  It’s sad to see other businesses paying him or his client any settlement money. The Canon Law firm, and Mr. Berokim, claim to be representing an ADA website plaintiff, Xandra Krahe, a blind or visually impaired California resident. Please see our page on the Canon Law, Berokim website claims.

————————————–

March 2, 2022. KarlinLaw.com reviews AccessiBe and other ADA Website Compliance Programs, Plug-in’s, and Apps for WCAG compliance and Lawsuit Prevention. Reliance on certain ADA Plug-in Programs, Applications or Widgets can possibly cause problems and a false sense of compliance.  Various ADA Plug-In Programs, Apps, and Widgets such as AccessiBe are reviewed for ADA and WCAG 2.1 compliance and discussed by the Karlin Law Firm, including AccessiBe, Userway, and others. See the link below for more information on AccessiBe.com – Click here ===>

AccessiBe, Userway and other ADA website programs reviewed.