AB 539: Unruh Civil Rights Act: high-frequency litigants.

Existing law, except in complaints that allege physical injury or damage to property, requires a complaint asserting a construction-related accessibility claim, as defined, filed by or on behalf of a high-frequency litigant to state, among other things, the number of complaints alleging a construction-related accessibility claim that the high-frequency litigant has filed during the 12 months before filing the complaint and the reason the individual was in the geographic area of the defendants business. Existing law defines high-frequency litigant to mean a person who utilizes court resources in actions arising from alleged construction-related access violations at such a high level that it is appropriate that additional safeguards apply so as to ensure that the claims are warranted, including, subject to certain exceptions, an attorney who has represented as attorney of record 10 or more high-frequency litigant plaintiffs in actions that were resolved within the 12-month period immediately preceding the filing of the current complaint alleging a construction-related accessibility violation.

For the purpose of defining the term high-frequency litigant, this bill would revise and recast the terms construction-related accessibility claim and construction-related accessibility violation to accessibility-related violation and would instead include in the definition of high-frequency litigant an attorney who has represented as attorney of record 5 or more high-frequency litigant plaintiffs in actions that were resolved within the 12-month period immediately preceding the filing of the current complaint alleging an accessibility-related violation.

Existing law makes a person who denies, aids or incites a denial, or makes any discrimination or distinction contrary to the Gender Tax Repeal Act of 1995 and certain provisions of the Unruh Civil Rights Act liable for each and every offense for the actual damages and any amount that may be determined by a jury, or a court sitting without a jury, up to a maximum of 3 times the amount of actual damage but in no case less than $4,000, and any attorneys fees that may be determined by the court in addition thereto, suffered by any person denied the rights provided in those provisions.

This bill would prohibit a high-frequency litigant from recovering any amount, other than actual damages, pursuant to those provisions that exceeds $1,000 for each offense. The bill would also prohibit a party alleging an accessibility-related violation due to disability pursuant to those provisions from alleging more than one violation per defect and from, through repeated visits, using the previously identified defect as the basis for additional damages. The bill would also prohibit a plaintiff from alleging an accessibility-related violation unless the plaintiff had a bona fide intent to be a customer of the business at the time that the plaintiff accessed the business.