From the Los Angeles Times, AP/Wall Street Journal:

The U.S. Supreme Court this week declined to hear an appeal from a California man who has sued repeatedly over alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The court’s action lets stand a federal judge’s ruling that bars Jarek Molski from filing further lawsuits without special permission.

Molski (left), who is paralyzed and uses a wheelchair, has filed some 400 lawsuits against restaurants and small businesses for alleged ADA violations, often alleging that he was injured in the course of his visit.  Targeted business owners often settled out of court, earning Polski hundreds of thousands of dollars in less than two years.

A federal judge in Los Angeles branded Molski a “hit and run plaintiff,” describing his lawsuits as extortion. The opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit said Molski’s lawsuits were “probably meritorious in part,” as many of the businesses were probably not in compliance with ADA requirements, but that there was ample evidence that Molski had “trumped up his claims of injury.”

The appeals court’s decision can be found here.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 at 11:12 am and is filed under ADA, law, wheelchair. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.