The Price of Access

In a dimly lit, rural house in the Southern California desert, a 17-year-old disabled boy in a wheelchair opened a curious e-mail. Erik Wyatt, paraplegic since age 2 and on the cusp of his high school graduation, received this Jan. 17 instruction from a San Diego attorney: "Pls go to places on attached list by thurs. Please get receipt or business card for each place. You get $1,000 for each case when it settles."

1: Lynn Hubbard III, Chico

California, which led the country decades earlier in passing access laws, also has become a national hot spot of ADA controversy. The Golden State, along with at least six other states, allows plaintiffs to collect damages for access violations, making them an attractive marketplace for ADA lawsuits. The lowest damages are $50 in Colorado, with California's minimum the highest at $4,000.

Second of three parts. On a September day last year, as the workweek began, two Northern California attorneys were busy filing lawsuits. That Monday, five businesses were sued in federal court. The next day, four more lawsuits were filed. Another two landed on Wednesday, and four more after that.

Last of three parts. Darren Keepers had been up in the snow, fooling around with his high school buddies, when the threesome decided to pop into a Wienerschnitzel in Upland for dinner in March.

Kathie Reece-McNeill, a 48-year-old Southern California businesswoman, is a rarity among the targets of ADA access lawsuits.

Christine Burke was an athletic, outgoing 14-year-old when she headed up to South Lake Tahoe in July 2003 with her parents and little brother for a summer vacation.

Oakland access consultant Kim Blackseth answers some of the questions foremost in business owners' minds as they contemplate how to comply with state and federal laws. Blackseth, who is disabled, was appointed this year to the state's Building Standards Commission, which oversees all building code requirements, including disabled access provisions.

For years, lawsuits have been the way disabled access laws are enforced in California and elsewhere. But other solutions have been proposed to try to bridge the gulf between disabled Californians and the business community - who regularly express frustration and anger with one another. Among the ideas:

SAM STANTON