The Supreme Court denied Thursday a request from a disabled woman to dismiss her case involving a hotel’s compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The justices are scheduled to hear the case Oct. 4 after they return from their summer recess.
Deborah Laufer of Florida had asked the justices not to hear her legal battle with a Maine hotel she has sued, claiming that Acheson Hotels are not ADA compliant in noting accommodations for people with disabilities on their website.
Ms. Laufer has made a career out of surfing the internet to find hotels she says don’t meet the law’s standards for online information about accommodations. Then she files lawsuits against the hotels.
She says she is trying to force compliance. She has filed more than 600 complaints, reached settlements and then collected costs and attorneys’ fees. Opponents have argued her string of lawsuits is a cash grab.
Through her attorney’s court filing, she said the current case is bad because the lawyer who formerly handled it has been sanctioned by a federal judge in Maryland over his approach to cases.
Julianna Acheson, owner of Acheson Hotels LLC, which appealed to the high court, said Ms. Laufer fears the Supreme Court will end the money-making operation. Her lawyers urged the justices not to dismiss the case.
The Supreme granted Ms. Acheson’s request on Thursday. In addition, the justices will consider if the case is moot since Ms. Laufer said she would retract her lawsuit against Acheson Hotels.
The case is Acheson Hotels LLC v. Deborah Laufer.
The Americans with Disabilities Act was enacted in 1990 to prevent discrimination against disabled people. It requires public establishments to make reasonable accommodations for disabled people to access their services and facilities. A provision compels hotel owners to describe features at the establishment for people with disabilities.
Ms. Laufer, who has impaired vision and needs a cane or wheelchair to travel, said Coast Village Inn and Cottages, an Acheson Hotels property, doesn’t list accessible rooms on its website and doesn’t provide enough information to determine whether she could be accommodated. She said that violates her rights under the ADA.
A U.S. District Court sided with Acheson Hotels, saying Ms. Laufer wasn’t planning to be a customer and therefore didn’t have standing to sue. The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision, finding that withholding the information amounted to harm to Ms. Laufer and gave her legal standing to sue.
Other district and circuit courts have ruled the other way, creating the sort of split that makes a case attractive for Supreme Court justices.
Ms. Laufer says the case is moot because she plans to dismiss the claim filed in a lower court and similar lawsuits after the sanctioning of one of her attorneys.
• Stephen Dinan contributed to this report.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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