At our next Board of Supervisors meeting, I’m bringing forward an item that goes to the heart of keeping our small and medium-sized businesses open and our neighborhoods thriving. I wanted to give you an early look and explain why it matters.
Here’s the problem. California now leads the nation in lawsuits filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act, with more than 3,000 filed in 2025 alone. But the vast majority of these cases aren’t brought by neighbors who were genuinely denied access. They’re driven by a small handful of serial plaintiffs and law firms who have turned our courts into a business model, filing thousands of near-identical suits over minor, often technical issues that do nothing to improve real access for people with disabilities.
The targets are almost always the same: the family-run restaurant, the corner retail shop, the local hotel, many of them minority-owned and family-owned “mom and pop” businesses operating on thin margins. Faced with legal bills they can’t afford, most owners feel forced to settle even when the alleged violation is trivial. As policy analysts like Marc Joffe have documented, this isn’t accessibility enforcement. It’s a predatory cottage industry, and small businesses make for an easy mark.
This is not about weakening the ADA. Everyone should be able to walk into any business open to the public. That principle is not up for debate, and nothing I’m proposing touches it.
What I am asking for is common sense: a statewide “right to cure.” Under this approach, a business that receives notice of an alleged violation gets a reasonable window to actually fix the problem before facing a costly lawsuit. Fix the issue, and the case goes away. It’s fair warning instead of a legal ambush, and it puts money toward ramps and doorways instead of attorney’s fees.
My Board letter asks my colleagues to direct our Chief Administrative Officer to add support for statewide right-to-cure legislation, legislation that preserves every ADA accessibility protection, to the County’s official Legislative Program. It’s a straightforward, common-sense step that increases fairness in enforcement without diminishing a single protection for people with disabilities, and it costs nothing to the General Fund.
Our small businesses are the backbone of the Fifth District and of this county. They deserve a fair shot to comply, not a courtroom trap. I hope you’ll follow this item with me, and I welcome your thoughts.
San Diego County District 5 Supervisor Jim Desmond
https://www.supervisorjimdesmond.com/
