Supreme Court Dismisses ADA Lawsuit

The first official ruling for the new term of the Supreme Court has been issued, and they are kicking someone looking to cash in to the curb.

Deborah Laufer had filed suits against hotels for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Laufer claimed their websites had violated disability laws, even though she had no intention of actually staying at the hotels in question.

Looking to Cash In

This case reminds me of the auditor videos we see online all the time, where people start to openly provoke officers in the hopes of getting a negative reaction so they can sue the police department.

This was more or less the same thing, with Laufer checking out different hotel websites for ADA compliance.

The hotels challenged the suit, asking the Supreme Court to dismiss her case based on a lack of standing since she never had any intention of staying at the properties she was suing.

It turns out, Laufer decided to dismiss pending cases that were still in the courts after her attorney was sanctioned by the court. She has also agreed not to file new cases.

Justice Barrett stated, “She voluntarily dismissed her pending ADA cases after a lower court sanctioned her lawyer. She represented to this court that she will not file any others.

“We dismiss it on that ground. We emphasize, however, that we might exercise our discretion differently in a future case.”

Justice Thomas also wrote an opinion that he felt the court needed to rule on the issue of disabled people like Laufer having standing in cases such as this, which he stated he does not believe is the case.

Most critics of the cases have called this nothing more than a cash grab, which is why her attorney was sanctioned.

A judge on the lower court noted that it would have been impossible for Laufer to stay at all the properties she was suing, so the attorney was sanctioned by the court for filing all of the lawsuits on her behalf.