Extortion Lawsuits? Yuba City Coughs Up $15k To Make George Louie Go Away

October 17th, 2012. By AbiK

George Louie. If you live on the east coast or do not follow news regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) you probably haven’t heard of Mr. Louie. But PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) and hundreds of businesses and attorneys sure have. In fact, if you run a case locator search over at PACER right now—even narrow your search to just civil cases—you’ll find 1,060 records for George Louie.

See, he’s one prolific lawsuit filer. He files them pro se (that is, for himself—without an attorney). And, to many, he’s like that mouse that gets in your house and after you set traps, caulk openings, and even shove steel wool into any and every infinitesimal hole—guess what? Sure as shootin’ the darn thing manages to rip open the box of Bisquick® in the pantry. Yep, he’s that kind of annoying.

Given I write for  a legal new site, LawyersandSettlements.com, I’m all for justice—and ADA compliance. But I’m not for abusing the system or drumming up lawsuits against small businesses that can potentially drive them into bankruptcy when perhaps there are non-litigious workarounds to improve the situation. I daresay that the small businesses who’ve been targeted by Mr. Louie would do what they could (key words there: ‘what they could’) to provide their wares or services to him or help get him access to their establishments. Most small businesses aren’t in the business of trying to alienate customers. But why work with your foe when you can sue them!

So, note to Louie: if the very change you’re trying to affect can’t take effect because the business you’ve targeted can’t afford to make the change, thereby driving it into bankruptcy at worst or non-compliance penalties at best, what have you accomplished? You’re certainly not winning allies, and you—or the community—risks losing a part of what was helping to contribute to a more vital neighborhood.

But then what’s a community to do when under siege from a court-clogging wannabe hero (or grudge-holder, as Louie reportedly told the  Marysville Appeal-Democrat, “I hold grudges”)  who’s costing more time, money and effort than the community can bear?

Enter Yuba City, CA.

Yuba City just took a bold—some would say insane—step to put the brakes on George Louie.

They paid him off. Or, I should say, they settled with him, by agreeing to pay him $15,000 in order for him to stop bringing frivolous lawsuits against them and area businesses. According to the MercuryNews (10/15/12), Yuba City’s economic development manager, Darin Gale states Louie has “agreed not to file ADA lawsuits in our city, period. There’s no timetable. It’s forever.”

Now, what this means for future and copycat lawsuit opportunists is yet to be seen.  But what does this settlement accomplish?

Well, the obvious is that it gets George Louie off Yuba City small businesses’ backs. As CBS News-Sacramento reported (10/13/12), local business owner Jayne Sawyer—who owns  JJ’s Tools and Merchandise—said in regard to the possibility of being targeted by a Louie lawsuit, “We’d probably have to close it down. We do not have the capital; we’re barely breaking even.” Then she says, “It’s just sad because it’s not what the law [ADA] intended to do.”

But it surely doesn’t leave a good taste in everyone’s mouth regarding efforts to put the spotlight on ADA non-compliance. As Yuba City property manager Bill Meagher, who had two tenants sued by Louie, was quoted as saying, “These are extortion lawsuits.” Well, a $15k pay-off could be seen as such.

Tags: ADA, California, Discrimination, Frivolous Lawsuit, George Louie, Lawsuit, Rights of the Disabled, Yuba City

This was posted on Wednesday, October 17th, 2012 at 4:08 pm and is filed under Discrimination, Emerging Issues, lawsuits, Settlement . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.