Meet the The Quadriplegic Lawyer Who Prides Himself On Putting Mom and Pop Companies Out of Business For Not Being Handicap Accessible
AOL – The poor economy brought Ford’s Real Hamburgers to the brink. But the owners of the Sacramento, Calif., burger stand say they finally had to close when they became the target of a disability rights crusader. Without the cash on hand to make its bathroom handicapped-accessible, Ford’s says that after more than two decades of business it was forced to fry its last patty. Scott Johnson, a quadriplegic, sued the burger stand on Sept. 7, claiming that it violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. Under the ADA, all public accommodations must make “reasonable modifications” so that disabled people can enjoy the place like anybody else. Johnson claimed that the burger stand’s lack of disabled parking and an accessible restroom caused him to experience “difficulty, discomfort and embarrassment” on the two times he visited, and made him feel like “a second class citizen.” His lawsuit requested a court order to force Ford’s to make renovations, as well as attorney’s fees and the minimum damages for discrimination: $4,000 for each offense. “We scrimped and saved and cut down the staff. I’m down to six employees,” owner Hank Vereschzagin told Sacramento TV station KTXL. But there just wasn’t the money to renovate the 60-year-old building. “I don’t know what I’m going to do next,” he added. “I just know I can’t keep this open.”
Ford’s is far from the first small business to be targeted by Johnson, an attorney who was disabled by a hit-and-run drunken driver in 1981. Back in 2010 Sacramento’s KXTV reported that, since the early 2000s, Johnson had sued more than 1,000 businesses to enforce the ADA in Northern California, Johnson has claimed that his average settlement is between $4,000 and $6,000, which means that his compensation may add up to the millions. But he says that it’s in the service of a larger cause — pushing businesses to be ADA-compliant. Fellow wheelchair-user and longtime Ford’s customer, Jerry Sylvia, said that he doesn’t feel as if Johnson is fighting for him, however. “He’s strictly crusading on his own behalf,” he told KTXL.
And Johnson has made many enemies over the years, including local radio host Joe Getty, who has accused Johnson of “bold-faced extortion masquerading as trying to help the handicapped.” “It’s crime,” he told KXTV. “It’s legalized crime.”
Is it bad form to call a quadriplegic a cocksucker? Because this motherfucker right here is a cocksucker plain and simple. I mean obviously you never want anybody to get hit by a car and get paralyzed but something tells me this dude had it coming. Like I get the Americans with Disabilities Act. I’m all for making all sports stadiums, concert venues, schools, movie theaters, chain restaurants, nice restaurants handicap accessible. But Ford’s Real Hamburgers whose bathroom is barely functional for non handicapped people? Give me a break. Place is a fucking shack. The other handicap guy who has been going there for 21 years doesn’t seem to have a problem with it. Doesn’t seem like a guy who has gone once just to check out the bathroom should be able to sue over it. Hope somebody fucking sticks this cripples face into the frialator. Serve him right.


what a trashbag… someone needs to take a stand.
Hate people that walk around doing shit like this.. oh wait.
http://www.masonjarsports.com
The ADA is pretty garbage. I’m for it as far as making public/official buildings accessible for all – government access should be equal to all. Honestly, though, if a private business doesn’t want to make the investment, then that should be their choice. Stuff like this has been a result since. This isn’t anything new, just the latest in a long series.
thats not right…what if this quadriplegic bro fell into a swimming pool? should people avoid trying to save him because there is not a handicap accessible ramp? cant be a doucebag through your whole life or you end up like Neil
Karma’s a bitch ya twat: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/disabled-atty-sued-sexual-harassment-article-1.1173531
Crippled people should be thankful for society. Nobody “has” to help them…with everything.
wonder if he could beat lolo jones in a race
Someone should put a stick in his spokes, that’ll teach him.
Cue Lolo Jones challenging him to a foot race.
@spghost yeah if this dbag fell in the pool i wouldnt help him. dont want him to feel different or embarrassed by me helping him.
Unreal. A store I worked at in Westchester, NY growing up just filed for Bankruptcy after being sued for the same thing. That store and a bunch of others all closed down. All were private, small, mom/pop shops that the community loved. I remember helping handicap people while working there too.
Just a shitty shitty way to make a profession. If private business can tell someone to leave their store/property for no reason at all (which they are allowed to by law) how can they be sued for accessibility?
What do you call a quadriplegic on your porch?
-Matt
You can thank your Democrat politicians for that one.
There’s some dickhole lawyer in NYC who does this, too; Howie Carr was ranting about it a few months ago. The fact that it’s usually more cost-effective to settle with these litigious assholes than it is to fight them in court (even if you win) shows how much our legal system needs to be overhauled.
@carl fuck you I hate republicans
just close the bathroom off to everyone
The ADA was definitely democrat-driven (they controlled both houses of Congress), but it was supported and signed by Bush 41, so plenty of blame to go around on that piece of foolishness.
I plan on opening a mom & pop pool company and making the deep end handicap accessible.
“I feel like a second class citizen”
Oh no shit? Fuck this guy. If you’re such a tough guy then why don’t you just soil yourself at the table, not like you’ll feel it anyway. That’s the mark of a real man.
Good thing this guy has never been to any of the subshops in the North End. I had to take my son to the bathroom once and I had to scale down two ladders and cross a dungeon like basement. It was pretty cool though. I felt like I was in goodfellas.
how exactly would a quadriplegic use a restroom anyway? i thought that meant no movement in your legs OR arms. so you need someone to lift you onto the toilet, right? its a slippery slope if you have hector manning the deep fryer @ Ford’s while also having to wipe Scott Johnson’s dirty asshole for him. health code violations for DAYS
I’m an RN and work private duty for a quadrapalegic woman. I just asked her opinion on this article and her response was ‘he sounds like a cocksucker’. So there you go.
I’m an RN and work private duty for a quadrapalegic woman. I just asked her opinion on this article and her response was ‘he sounds like a cocksucker’. So there you go.
You felt like a second class citizen? News flash crippy boy dickhead, you ARE a second class citizen
What’s more fun than being a cripple who makes millions suing businesses? Walking.
^ Boom.
He cant fuck either. Must be all that pent up frustration and energy that makes this cocksucker (cuz that’s all he’s capable of now) so litigious…that means he likes to sue people.
“I’ve seen a lot of spinals in my day, Dude, and this guy fucking walks. I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life.”
Jerry Silva vs Scott Johnson
CRIPPLE FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SWOODY ftw
Give this guy the chair…oh wait, nevermind
Too bad the drunk driver didn’t throw it in reverse and finish the job.
Solution: a wheelchair accessible port-o-potty outside. BOOM DONE.