Seyfarth Synopsis: Our
thoughts on the impact of the election on the ADA Title III
landscape.
We now know that January 20, 2017 will bring a definitive regime
change. How will this change impact Title III of the ADA, the
current litigation environment, and pending Department of Justice
(DOJ) regulations and enforcement activities? Here are our
thoughts.
The ADA was created through bipartisan effort, signed into law
by President George Bush in 1990. Since that time, the law
has only been amended once – in 2008 – to expand the
definition of what constitutes a covered "disability."
In our experience, politicians are reluctant to take any
action that would be viewed as being harmful to people with
disabilities. Thus, earlier efforts to amend the law to curb
lawsuit abuse were unsuccessful. More recently, in response
to the surge in the number of ADA Title III lawsuits, business
groups have again pushed for reform legislation to address so
called "drive-by"
