Disabled business prompts owner to fight

Noaki Schwartz

BALBOA ISLAND -- Wilma Staudinger said she nearly lost her restaurant two

years ago when she was sued by a disabled man for not having a

wheelchair-accessible bathroom. Upon discovering that the man, Kornel

Botosan, had been presenting similar lawsuits to other local

establishments, she had seen enough.

This January, the owner of the now reopened Wilma’s Patio plans to go to

Washington to propose legislation that would protect small businesses

from such lawsuits. She made the trip last year with her daughter, but

said because of the presidential scandal going on at the time, she didn’t

get very far.

This time, Staudinger hopes to at least propose setting up a council to

advise small businesses that find themselves in similar situations.

“I can understand for new buildings and new construction, but [in

Balboa’s old buildings] there’s no room,” Staudinger said, adding that if

it weren’t for her son, she would not have been able to relocate and

reopen her restaurant.

It’s been nearly a decade since federal legislation was passedto make

public places more accessible to wheelchairs. At the time, businesses

were given two to four years to comply with the American Disabilities

Act.

“[Botosan is] upset at the unfulfilled promises of the American

Disabilities Act,” said his attorney, Russell Handy of the Center for

Disability Access, a firm that specializes in American Disabilities Act

cases.

Botosan, a former Newport Beach resident and computer consultant,

considers himself a disabled activist, Handy said.

Since 1996, Botosan has pursued 300 cases and has yet to lose, he said.

In fact, his watchdog efforts have helped create 800 disabled parking

spaces.

However, while Botosan may consider himself an activist, the small

business owners he has sued beg to differ. They see him as a person

cashing in on the law.

“When I got the lawsuit, I took it very personally. The losses were

bitter and heartbreaking,” said Staudinger, adding that with the

potential legal fees, she was facing a bill of nearly $90,000.

She eventually decided to settle, but lost her original restaurant.

However, Handy countered that he had never seen a business go under

because of a lawsuit from Botosan. These lawsuits are by and large

settled for less than $10,000, he said.

The road to a wheelchair-accessible country is long -- one that shouldn’t

be traveled too quickly, said Rob Fogel, a wheelchair-bound disabled

veteran who works at the Crab Cooker, another restaurant Botosan

threatened to sue if improvements were not made.

“People should have access, but you can’t solve one problem and create

another,” Fogel said.

Fogel has worked at the Crab Cooker for 45 years and said the restaurant

had never received a single complaint from disabled customers until

Botosan.

Earlier this year, Botosan came to the restaurant and, after discovering

that he couldn’t use the same bathrooms as the able-bodied, he told the

restaurant’s owners to shape up. While the Crab Cooker did have a

disabled bathroom, it was across the street which, Botosan’s attorney

said, isn’t good enough.

“The law is written that people have full and equal access. You can’t

send a disabled person down the street,” Handy said.

Staudinger, however, feels that she is the victim in this case.

“There’s no place to turn to,” she said.