Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, companies in California and around the country have to make their businesses as accessible as possible for customers and patrons who may have a disability. However, it can be impossible to plan for every disability if you don’t have that disability yourself.
No business wants to intentionally discriminate against people with disabilities. That’s why most of the time, a condition of lawsuits can be that the business has to update the store or change their policies.
What happens if you make the change before the lawsuit?
If a business owner is made aware of an area where their organization is not ADA compliant by means of a lawsuit, the first instinct might be to fight it. However, some business owners might win or avoid lawsuits all together by fixing the issue before the lawsuit is settled or taken to court.
In some cases, stores have been able to win or avoid ADA lawsuits by making their store compliant. For example, if a store’s checkout equipment is slightly outdated and not ADA compliant, the owner might be able to update the checkout equipment before the case is settled.
Once the update is made, a defendant can argue that the business responded promptly to the claim once made aware of it. Therefore, it wasn’t intentional discrimination.
Can the cases always be won or dismissed?
Businesses should of course update their operations as quickly as possible whenever a claim is made. However, this doesn’t always mean that the business will prevail. An ADA compliance attorney could provide more information on your particular situation.