ADA Compliance and Defense Blog
Neighborhood coffee shops and craft breweries have seen a noticeable increase in lawsuits recently. These are not large national chains with in-house legal teams. They are community-based businesses—often operating in older buildings—that may not know they are violating the law until they are served with a lawsuit.
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, businesses that are open to the public must provide accessible paths of travel, seating, restrooms, service counters, and parking. Even technical violations—such as a bathroom mirror mounted an inch too high, a restroom door requiring too much force to open, improper slopes at an entry ramp, or exterior dining tables without adequate knee clearance—can trigger litigation.
Coffee shops and breweries are particularly vulnerable because of:
- Outdoor patios and parklets with uneven surfaces
- Converted warehouse or historic spaces with step entries
- Tight restroom layouts
- Self-serve condiment bars placed too high
- Bar-height counters without an accessible section
- Inadequate accessible parking signage or striping
Many of these businesses were built decades ago. Owners assume they are “grandfathered in.” They are not. While the ADA does consider feasibility and cost under the “readily achievable” standard for existing facilities, plaintiffs’ attorneys frequently argue that most common fixes are inexpensive and therefore mandatory.
Separately from inaccessibility due to architectural barriers at physical locations, plaintiffs’ firms are also targeting the websites of coffee shops and breweries for inaccessibility for blind users. Recently, Manning Law, APC filed a lawsuit against Blue Bottle in the San Francisco County Superior Court about Blue Bottle’s website being inaccessible to blind people using screen-reading software. Plaintiffs’ firms do not discriminate on the size of a business or success of a business. They simply make broad searches throughout certain industries looking for easy targets.
In California, statutory damages under the Unruh Act start at $4,000 per violation, per visit. When you add attorneys’ fees—both yours and potentially the plaintiff’s—cases often settle in the tens of thousands of dollars. Even if the violation can be corrected for a few hundred dollars, the cost of getting there through litigation is substantial.
The recent surge in lawsuits is largely driven by high-frequency litigants who systematically inspect businesses for technical noncompliance. These cases are rarely about denying access; they are about technical standards buried in thousands of pages of regulations.
The good news is that most exposure can be reduced through proactive inspection and correction. A qualified accessibility consultant can identify common interior and exterior issues before they become a lawsuit. For California businesses, obtaining a CASp inspection can also provide procedural benefits if litigation arises.
If you own or manage a coffee shop or brewery, now is the time to conduct a preventative review. And if you are served with a complaint, do not panic—but do act quickly. Early evaluation and strategic response can significantly reduce exposure and settlement costs.
Being proactive is far less expensive than being reactive.
About the ADA Compliance and Defense Group
JMM’s ADA Compliance and Defense team advises businesses on practical strategies to meet accessibility requirements and reduce legal risk. We also collaborate with trusted CASps and accessibility-focused web developers to support compliance efforts.
For more information, contact Marty Orlick at morlick@jeffer.com or 415.984.9667