Perimeter Mall, Gwinnett hotel sued over disabled access

A group that has sued dozens of Atlanta area businesses in the last five years has filed two federal lawsuits alleging that Perimeter Mall and a Gwinnett hotel violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Americans with Disabilities Accessibility Guidelines.

Both suits allege more than two dozen violations, including missing signage identifying parking places for disabled people and non-compliant bathrooms and entranceways.

The suits were filed by Florida-based Disabled Patriots of America, a self-described advocacy group, and Kenneth Tidwell of Atlanta.

Tidwell could not be located for comment and the attorney representing Tidwell and the Disabled Patriots, Thomas B. Bacon, declined to make Tidwell available. No one from Disabled Patriots of America returned phone calls or e-mails Monday or Tuesday.

Dennis Kemp, general manager of Perimeter Mall, said Monday he didn’t know the mall had been sued.

“Were we aware there was a problem, you can believe we would have worked to correct it,” he said. “I cannot recall ever getting any complaints about access for people with disabilities.”

The owner of the Comfort Inn and Suites on Oakbrook Parkway in Norcross could not be reached for comment.

Disabled Patriots of America has filed more than 80 similar actions against Atlanta-area businesses such as McDonald’s, Marriott, Dave & Busters and Phipps Plaza over the past five years. The status of those lawsuits was not available Tuesday evening.

Court records show Tidwell had been a plaintiff in at least 38 similar suits in Georgia since 2003. In October 2004, he was the plaintiff in more than a half-dozen suits with the Disabled Patriots.

David Warren Peters, general counsel and chief executive officer of the California-based law firm Lawyers Against Lawsuit Abuse, said he’s familiar with groups such as Disabled Patriots of America.

As a consultant on more than 500 ADA access suits in California and across the country, Peters said many suits filed by groups such as Disabled Patriots are “hyper-technical.” Many of the issues are not genuine access issues where someone is impeded from entering or using the premises, he said.

When asked why not give businesses the chance to fix the problems before going to court, Bacon said letters and requests don’t work.