Business owners mulling over a lawsuit

11:17 AM EDT on Friday, September 10, 2004

Mary Nash uses a wheelchair, which means at least for now, she'll never get to shop in General Eccentric. The stairs to this ladies boutique on Bardstown Road are standing in her way.

“We haven't figured out how to levitate,” she says. “I am waiting for that day.”

This store is one of three named in a federal lawsuit for being inaccessible. Store owner Kristin David told WHAS11 News she wanted to see the suit before commenting.

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“The law has been on the books for 14 years and people are ignoring it,” Nash says.

The law to which she refers is the ADA, or Americans with Disabilities Act.

“I don't think there is a rational person alive that would tell you whether a camera is on them or not, that would tell you they would not support accessibility,” says Greg Guelda, who owns Runako Gallery, another businesses named in the lawsuit.

“This building is roughly 80 years old. If it was easily done, I think it would be great.”

Guelda figures he would have to put in 70 feet of ramp and rip out his storefront to comply -- modifications he figures would simply be cost prohibitive.

“I will close the business,” he says. “I am a small company.”

But Will Driscoll, the attorney filing the lawsuit, says Guelda's business and the others were carefully selected, based on limited financial burden and ease of compliance.

“This is a civil rights case. Congress intended to change the whole country and make all public buildings accessible to those that use wheelchairs,” says Driscoll. “And 12 years later, the only enforcement we are seeing is through these private suits.”

Driscoll says he's working on the cases pro bono, and they are having an effect. Three out five filed a few weeks ago have already been remedied with owners making modifications. Some, like an Indian restaurant also on Bardstown, voluntarily agreed to put in a ramp. The third business named in the latest lawsuit is Dugan Insurance, also on Bardstown Road. The owner did not return our call.

As for Mary Nash, she only wants what most of us with no mobility problems never think about: coming in through the front door not too far into the distant future.

“Our point is to leave a legacy of accessible businesses in Louisville.”

Web story produced by Jay Ditzer.