On March 9, 2015, the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (Mitchell, J.) issued an opinion denying a motion to dismiss filed by Starbucks in a case challenging the accessibility of parking lots at Starbucks restaurants. The opinion is significant in that it thoughtfully analyzes, and rejects, many of the defenses that have been historically asserted on behalf of defendants in barrier removal cases under Title III of the ADA. This case is part of Lynch Carpenter’s national initiative to improve parking accessibility for those individuals with mobility disabilities—the top priority for the Department of Justice’s ADA enforcement division. To that end, and working with the disability rights community, Lynch Carpenter files Title III cases with the objective of improving accessibility throughout a given public accommodation’s entire network of business locations—not just the location that was visited by a given disabled plaintiff. Bruce Carlson manages the disability rights group at Lynch Carpenter.
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