New ADA Regs Proposed That Would Allow Temporary Lifts In Pools (Courtesy of Julie Mills)

Julie Mills, an attorney and blogger who writes about ADA issues in the hospitality industry, wrote a piece this week on HR 203 - a new bill that has been introduced in Congress that, if passed, would permit pools to use temporary lifts instead of incurring the expense and potential safety issues that arise from the ADA's current requirement for fixed lifts in most pools.  Julie does a nice job of summing up the issue so, with her permission, I've reprinted her piece below.  Julie's Blog, "The ADA:  Titles II and III," can be found here.  
(read her piece and my thoughts after the jump)

Happy New Year From The California Supreme Court! A Home Run Ruling In Nalwa v. Cedar Fair

In the law, there aren’t many things that can rightfully be called a home run.  The vast majority of “big” decisions out there are not total wins for one side, but are judged to be “big” because, in the main, their result effects a shift in the law or undoes a prior bad result even while, in some modest measure, containing a small victory for the “loser.”  The recent Supreme Court Obama-care decision is a perfect illustration: the Court upheld the individual mandate (the big win for liberals all over the country) while making clear that the individual mandate is, in reality, a tax (a small victory for conservatives).  On New Year’s Eve, though, the California Supreme Court issued a rare home run opinion in Nalwa v. Cedar Fair – an opinion that eviscerates the prior poorly-reasoned decision of the California Court of Appeals and unambiguously establishes the right of amusement and recreation facilities to assert the primary assumption of the risk defense to avoid costly and uncertain trial practice.  Even more remarkable, although the decision was a 6-1 majority (a strong victory to be sure), the Court of Appeals reasoning – that California’s public policy precludes the applicability of the assumption of the risk doctrine to the recreation industry entirely – was unanimously rejected.  There is simply no way to view this decision as anything but a complete home run for both Cedar Fair and the amusement industry in general.