[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2754]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       PARKING DRIVE-BY LAWSUITS

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, Weingarten Realty owns several 
shopping centers in Texas. Recently they were sued by plaintiffs who 
had never visited the shopping center.
  The complaint?
  Allegedly, nine designated ADA van-accessible parking spaces were not 
dispersed far enough apart.
  The plaintiff did not notify Weingarten of the alleged violations 
before filing the lawsuit, so Weingarten couldn't comply.
  The real estate company believes they were in compliance with the 
ADA. But often companies like Weingarten decide the best economic 
decision is to settle the lawsuit rather than an expensive court trial. 
Businesses are told to either pay a settlement or face an expensive 
trial.
  The bipartisan bill, the ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017, 
requires plaintiffs to give businesses notice and time to fix the 
alleged ADA infraction before a lawsuit is filed.
  Mr. Speaker, the ADA was designed to improve access for the disabled, 
not allow a handful of greedy plaintiffs who have never been on the 
premises to use a loophole to extort unsuspecting businessowners of 
money.
  And that is just the way it is.

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