When Roberto Guerrero and his family emigrated from Nicaragua to San Francisco and opened several coffee shops in the 1980s, they were pursuing the American Dream.

That dream did not include being hit with a lawsuit from a customer. Unfortunately, California’s version of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has created opportunities for plaintiffs’ lawyers to target small businesses like Guerrero’s.

Guerrero’s troubles began when he received a letter from a customer of his Cumaica Coffee shop informing him that he was being sued for minor infractions, including the placement of a recycling bin too close to a door. After a year of litigation, Guerrero wound up settling the case for $20,000.

Since then, Guerrero has been on a mission to educate small businesses about the threat of ADA lawsuits and steps they can take to protect themselves, including getting their properties certified by Certified Access Specialist (CASp). CASp certification grants special legal rights to business owners, including a 90-day stay on a lawsuit while the business resolves the alleged ADA violation.

Guerrero has gone an extra step, telling his story to the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform’s (ILR’s) first-of-its-kind national media campaign that is designed to raise awareness of the impact of lawsuit abuse on Latino-owned businesses.

The Latino Faces of Lawsuit Abuse campaign, an offshoot of ILR’s successful four-year Faces of Lawsuit Abuse effort, features two new video profiles of California Latino business owners, including Guerrero, whose businesses were victims of abusive litigation.

“These lawyers are very sharp; they know what they are doing. I learned a lesson. I’m very compliant with the law at my establishments now, so I have no fears. And yes, I’m willing to stand up and point at whoever needs to be pointed at,” Guerrero says.

He recently spoke about his lawsuit in the San Francisco Examiner, which has written extensively about California’s lawsuit culture over the last two years. At least 16 of Guerrero’s neighboring businesses have been sued by the same plaintiff. Two of them were forced to close. The plaintiff’s attorney claims to have filed 2,000 ADA lawsuits in California on behalf of several serial plaintiffs. “It was not something I ever thought would happen to me. It was something I’d see in the papers, but I just kept turning the page,” Guerrero says. “Now, it’s all about awareness. Whoever needs to know, I will tell them.”

Guerrero’s story can be viewed at www.abusosdedemandas.org or www.facesoflawsuitabuse.org

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