Dear Real Estate Brokers, Agents Buyers & Sellers:

As South Florida's leading Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Compliance Company, time and time again we encounter angry clients who have recently purchased commercial real estate, only to find themselves quickly involved in ADA discrimination lawsuits.

Non-profit groups representing the rights of the disabled bring the litigation. In many of these suites, called boilerplate or drive-by lawsuits, the Plaintiff never actually enters the facility, but sees enough violations from their car to initiate litigation. They claim that, as a result of the facility being in violation, they could not enter or properly patronize the facility and therefore the facility and its owner discriminated against them. The law says this does constitute discrimination.

For the new buyer unfortunately, the most successful defense is to conduct their own ADA inspection of the facility and hire a general contractor to fix the violations fast. The non-profit groups want their attorneys' fees and costs paid - that is the game. If the judge has to order the defendant to conduct the modifications, the plaintiffs will be declared the "prevailing party," thus be entitled to attorney's fees and costs. The worst part is that most insurance policies don't cover the cost of complying with ADA modifications as a result of a federal ADA discrimination lawsuit.

The fees and costs can reach into the ten thousands. Every month there are hundreds of ADA lawsuits filed against South Florida's commercial real-estate property owners.

In order to protect the buyer, broker and all other parties involved in a commercial real estate closing it is becoming ever so apparent that an updated ADA inspection of the property must be incorporated. This is as important as title insurance or title search.

Upset clients are now looking at potential litigation against their brokers, agents and attorneys that let them buy commercial properties without the ADA issues being addressed prior to closing.

Our goal is to secure a meeting with you to further discuss establishing a relationship to conduct ADA inspections for your commercial clients. We feel that due to the large number of ADA suits locally and nationally; ADA inspections of commercial properties will become the norm, just as title insurance and title searches.