Marquesa Hotel management
sense triumph against ADA suit
BY TERRY SCHMIDA
A Key West hotelier is claiming victory in a lawsuit launched to force his business to comply with measures included in the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Erik deBoer, who along with Robert Manley and Carol Wightman, owns the Marquesa Hotel, at 600 Fleming St. In mid-August, Hollywood, Fla. attorney Mark D. Cohen filed suit against the Marquesa, on behalf of plaintiff Howard Cohan, alleging the business was in violation of the ADA, by not providing customers with lifts to access its two swimming pools.
Cohen has filed hundreds of ADA-related suits against other businesses throughout the state.
However, deBoer, his attorney William Salim, and “ADA consultant” Bill Norkunas, who assisted in the drafting of the ADA law in former U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy’s office, balked at Cohen’s demand that the hotel pay a settlement, and install the lifts, which deBoer claims would cost “in excess of $50,000.”
One of the hotel’s two pools was built in 1988, the year the Marquesa opened. The other already existed on the property, according to deBoer.
“They had indicated a willingness to settle out of court, if we were to make certain installations which they felt were required under the ADA, and pay them some cash,” deBoer said. “We declined because we believed we had done everything we were required to under the ADA.”
Now, deBoer said, he has received verbal word from Salim that Cohen and Cohan will decline to pursue the matter further, at a scheduled Dec. 4 hearing in front of Judge Jose Martinez, at the federal courthouse on Simonton Street.
“When the ADA was passed in the 1990s, there were provisions made for new and existing businesses,” deBoer said. “Specific requirements were decided upon for new construction projects, but the law also addressed older properties that didn’t have the chance to build according to the law. Existing businesses were expected to comply with the ADA to whatever extent is readily achievable, which are words that have been argued about for many years. The modifications must also be easily accomplished with little expense. Given the cost involved with what they wanted us to do, did not meet that definition. So we decided to fight back.”
However, Cohen on Tuesday refused to confirm or deny throwing in the towel in the case.
“Our complaint involved recent a recent change in the law that require lifts in swimming pools,” Cohen said. “My recollection was that their expert came back and said that if they put in the lifts, it would block their paths. We have to entertain and examine that information. The concept for them is to comply with the 2012 requirements.”
DeBoer, for his part, is hoping to see an end to ADA lawsuits against area businesses.
“[The dropping of the suit] could be helpful to other properties in town,” he said.
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