Prenda's Paul Hansmeier Has Been Busy Suing More Companies Over Questionable Website ADA Claims

from the count-'em dept

Earlier this week, we noted that Team Prenda's Paul Hansmeier appeared to be filing questionable lawsuits, claiming Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) violations, including over websites. We pointed out that this had the hallmarks of Hansmeier's historical trolling cases, including copyright trolling and settlement opposition: file nuisance cases that appear designed to encourage those sued to just pay up to settle. We pointed out that while there were just two of these ADA cases, since we only found out about the most recent one because it had been removed to federal court, we wondered if there were more lurking in Minnesota state court.

The answer is: yes, absolutely. And it didn't take long. Three more such cases have been removed to federal court, and they're all quite similar. In each case, Hansmeier claims that the websites violate the ADA by not being "accessible" to people with disabilities. In each case, the claims are highly questionable, as can be seen in the two responses that have been filed already (all embedded below). The earlier story involved a dentist office's website. The latest ones are a doctor's office, a bank, and a chiropractor. Basically small business websites. I expect that we'll be seeing many more of these as well. You'd think Hansmeier would be busy trying to defend all of the cases he's been losing where he owes attorneys' fees for his copyright trolling efforts, but apparently he just can't stop filing questionable lawsuits.

Filed Under: ada, john steele, paul hansmeier, websites
Companies: class action justice, prenda, prenda law

Team Prenda's Paul Hansmeier Now Suing Companies Over Supposed ADA Violations

from the everything's-a-shakedown dept

Team Prenda's Paul Hansmeier appears to believe in a simple formula for what he does. Find some highly questionable scenarios where he can file expensive lawsuits that are more of a nuisance than anything else, while offering up ample opportunities for parties to "settle." Obviously, his involvement in the Steele/Hansmeier/Prenda operations have received the most attention, but as we've been discussed, he's also been involved in the very questionable businesses of class action objections, in which he finds class action lawsuits that are almost settled, and then objects -- but makes it clear he'll "settle" for a big chunk of cash upfront. A few different people alerted me last week that Hansmeier's latest version of this appears to be going after companies for supposed Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) violations -- including claiming that their websites violate the ADA.

Like so much of what Team Prenda gets involved in, this plan appears to be copied from others. Last year, we wrote about a dangerous ruling that suggested that Netflix could be subject to the ADA for not making its movie streaming accessible to the deaf. At the time, we noted that this could be a dream for shady lawyers, and it looks like Hansmeier felt this was a perfect role for him. Hansmeier appears to be targeting small businesses -- those who are least likely to be able to afford a full legal defense, making them a lot more willing to settle. In one case, he's sued a dentist, arguing that the website does not comply with the ADA. Another case involves a small sporting goods store, though at least the accusations there are about the physical store, rather than the website. Even then, though, the accusations seem questionable. Hansmeier claims that the store is not accessible because there's a step in the front -- but the store owner's response points out that there's a second, fully accessible entrance for wheelchairs in the back, which is open during all store hours. Hansmeier also argues that the bathroom in the store does not have grab bars and thus is not ADA compliant, but the store owner points out that the bathroom is for staff use only, and it sounds like he let the guy in the wheelchair that Hansmeier is representing, Jaime Veliz, use the staff-only bathroom as a favor. As a thanks for that, they get sued.

Once again, all of these lawsuits that Hansmeier gets involved in seem to show a fairly similar pattern, looking for scenarios where it will almost always be less of a hassle to just pay off Hansmeier to go away than to challenge the (often questionable) legal claims in court. It's unclear how many of these ADA lawsuits Hansmeier has filed. There are only two in federal court, where they're easy to find, but the latest one was actually filed in Minnesota state court, and was then removed to federal court. For all we know there could be more in Minnesota state court, which are harder to find out about. Either way, Hansmeier really seems like the kind of person who gives lawyers such a bad reputation.

Filed Under: ada, paul hansmeier
Companies: class action justice, prenda, prenda law