By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services via Arizona Capitol Times
Over Democrats’ objections, state senators voted Tuesday to give businesses more time to fix violations of disability laws before ending up in court.
SB1198 is a direct result of what all sides agree has become a growth industry among some attorneys. These lawyers find what they say are violations of laws dealing with access to the handicapped, file suit but then agree to drop the claim in exchange for a cash settlement.
And the alternative is to fight the lawsuit, which may actually cost more in legal fees than the settlement request.
The situation got so bad that Attorney General Mark Brnovich got a state judge to consolidate more than 1,000 of these individual lawsuits into a single case. Now he is trying to have them dismissed.