A judge has dismissed more than 1,000 frivolous lawsuits filed by a serial litigator against Arizona small businesses. Advocates for Individuals with Disabilities (AID) flooded state courts with more than 1,700 lawsuits against Valley businesses in 2016. The copy-and-paste lawsuits alleged that businesses’ parking lots did not comply with regulations related to persons with disabilities.
Many of the issues were minor and easily fixable, but the lawsuits sought thousands of dollars in damages and attorneys’ fees.
The ruling comes after the Attorney General’s Office filed a motion to dismiss the 1,000 lawsuits based on AID’s lack of standing. Some courts have sanctioned AID for these lawsuits and a federal judge also questioned whether AID’s attorney “has engaged in a pattern of professionally unethical conduct.”
The Attorney General’s Office intends to file a Motion for Sanction against AID.