Posted on 01/23/2009 4:00:08 AM PST by Virginia Ridgerunner
Marilynn Phillips is sick and tired of waiting for people to take her seriously.
The disability-rights activist has long said Gettysburg lags far behind many other towns when it comes to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. For years, Phillips has filed complaints with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.
But those cases take months, sometimes years, to resolve. In the meantime, Phillips said the businesses and other facilities she files against have largely ignored her concerns.
Now with the help of an attorney, Phillips has decided for the first time to file some Gettysburg cases in federal court in hopes of expediting the compliance process. Three local businesses are the defendants in the first series of federal cases, filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
"After 30 years of all of this, it really is time to let someone take over and do the work as quickly as possible," Phillips said. "I can't wait another 10 years, 20 years, for people to stop laughing at this."
(snip)
Phillips called her latest allegations "slam-dunk matters" that she expects the court to find in her favor.
She also said she is considering transferring some of her pending PHRC cases to federal lawsuits.
(snip)
Phillips' lawsuits ask the court to order the defendants to bring their businesses into compliance and reimburse Phillips for attorney's fees and other litigation costs.
(snip)
"Since these businesses have essentially ignored the issue ... I thought, you know, time to get things done," Phillips said. "They've had much, much notice."
(Excerpt) Read more at eveningsun.com ...
Pathetic and disgusting.
She’s nuts. There are ramps and other accommodations for the disabled everywhere in Gburg.
If she will have her representation call the jury ignorant rednecks, she will need a wheelbarrow to carry all her money.
The Codori House of Gifts is as I recall one small step up. If she had a friend to tilt her back it would be easy to surmount. This one is looking for a fight, couple of very nice older Russian ladies run the shop, please patronize, it’s right on Lincoln Square.
Looks like she may be an attention whore.
Here’s an article form 1992 on her efforts and those like her.
http://www.empowermentzone.com/onepower.txt
If she had a friend.....
_____
Big if!
I think most people would hook her up to an 18 wheeler on RT.30 to make sure she left town.
The ADA is one of the biggest rip-offs that ever came down the pike. Millions of dollars are spent by businesses to meet requirements of a few people, many of whom wil never enter the business who has to spend this money.
I am not anti-handicapped persons, many of the ADA required additions are just fine , but there are some handicaped persons who use their handicap as an entitlement, and no I wouldnt want to trade places with them.
As a G-burg local resident, I can assure you that this woman has not tried to be constructive in her “activism,” but entirely destructive. Her entire history with the town is confrontational, and she is so angry and hateful, that no business can reason with her. And yes, most of the buildings she is complaining about are very old.
Phillips - who uses a wheelchair because of post-polio syndrome and severe osteoporosis - alleges she was discriminated against in August and September of last year when she attempted to enter Codori House of Gifts, 2 York St., Wentz Stained Glass Studio, 48 York St., and the Spirited Ladies Shoppe, 45 Chambersburg St. Each shop lacks an accessible wheelchair entrance, according to Phillips' lawsuits.
So she's going to run a bunch of small businesses out of work. Bravo, activist.
here is how the ADA suit scam works.
the activist is the “expert” for the testimony in the lawsuit.
A law firm as a lawyer who only does these cases (or just a solo that focuses).
They create a shell (straw man / fake) entity which is the plaintif.
Under the ADA a plaintiff MAY NOT recieve money damages. They can only get their LAWYER FEES, and EXPERT fees.
IOW that activist in the begining gets PAID for being a pain.
The ADA does not give warning, no notice to cure NOTHING.
Just the law using lawyers as bounty hunters funded by lawsuit targets.
ONE MILIMEETER off and costs and fees are awarded.
More from the link that you left out.
Phillips - who uses a wheelchair because of post-polio syndrome and severe osteoporosis - alleges she was discriminated against in August and September of last year when she attempted to enter Codori House of Gifts, 2 York St., Wentz Stained Glass Studio, 48 York St., and the Spirited Ladies Shoppe, 45 Chambersburg St. Each shop lacks an accessible wheelchair entrance, according to Phillips’ lawsuits. Representatives of those businesses could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
Phillips has been a disability-rights activist since 1987, when she filed her first complaint against Morgan State University in Baltimore for not providing a wheelchair-accessible restroom on the building floor where she worked. The complaint led to the restroom being renovated, along with a majority of the campus.
Since then, Phillips - a Hampstead, Md. resident - has filed numerous complaints throughout Maryland and Pennsylvania. Her first complaint in Gettysburg was filed in 2006 against the Majestic Theater, which is owned by Gettysburg College. Phillips alleged the theater lacked accessible emergency exits. College officials later addressed the issue.
The ADA prohibits discrimination against individuals on the basis of disability and requires public accommodations - such as businesses - to meet accessibility requirements. In some cases, that means providing a ramp for wheelchair accessibility.
There ARE limitations in the ADA.
How much money the company makes, employees etc.
The problem is these suits have become a billable hour mill for the lawyers and the “activists” who profit via sham expert fees.
The lawyers set up a charitable “entity” which serves as the plaintiff then the activist gets money as the expert witness circumventing the ADA rules.
There is no notice prequisit to filing suit. There also is no means of being “certified” in compliance. You could (and do) have new and accessable buildings which are still sued to generate the fees. Also after teh suit, there is no protection agains the NEXT “activist”.
Of course there are and I'm sure her attorney knows what the limitations are, or they wouldn't bother. They don't like to waste their time either.
The problem is these suits have become a billable hour mill for the lawyers and the activists who profit via sham expert fees.
If she doesn't have a legitimate case they will be thrown out. In the past it seems that she did indeed have legitimate cases.
You could (and do) have new and accessable buildings which are still sued to generate the fees. Also after teh suit, there is no protection agains the NEXT activist.
Is that what she is doing or does this have nothing to do with the article at hand?
ADA suits are a legal scam these days.
The legit cases are the EXCEPTION, the scammers are the rule.
It only takes a single out of compliance 1/2 INCH and this leads to attorneys fees and costs.
THe lawyers count on the fact that it is cheeper to pay the lawyers fees or this scam artists “expert fees”.
ADA suits are a cash cow, they have nothing to do with access as a rule.
I caught hell trying to go to classes at Ga Tech in the late 70's -- sat outside in the weather for at least two classes and looked through an open window. Then, after graduation, I worked for a HUGE corporation for three years in an office without an accessible restroom. I had to cross the street to the local neighborhood bar to use the restroom. Those that have never experienced lack of access/restrooms/travel will never understand.
I’m in Homestead Florida and we have one lady here who is infamous for using the ADA and her disabilities to get anything she wants and to act as she wants.
Her wheelchair has a sign on the back that say “I HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY ALWAYS” and you better believe it. More than once she’s literally taken her motorized chair and driven into people, children included, who she claimed would not move out of her way on a sidewalk, store aisle or on a road.
Her electricity and water are provided through the City’s Utilities and each month when her bill arrives she goes to City Hall and demands to see the mayor or city manager. She claims she does not have to pay for any utilities because of her handicap protects her from any bills from a Gov. body. She’s been cut off many times and called the police wanting the person who cut her off arrested plus everyone working in the utilities department.
In the 4 years I worked for the PD I must have been called to a scene 4 dozen times, without exageration, where she was either demanding we arrest someone or she had rammed her wheelchair into someone (including a few children) or swung at them/hit them with a cane she always carries.
In one month, she called the station 127 times.
I’m in no way saying this is common with the handicapped but it’s easy for someone who’s filled with hate or just wants attention (in her case both) to us the ADA to their benefit and to harass others.
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