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| Forest or Trees? |
Last week, as I was toiling away on a big case I’m working
on, my email inbox blew up with news of an ADA case out of a federal court in
New Jersey involving Six Flags Great Adventure.
As many of you know, I usually pay close attention to such things, and
the news I was hearing was uniformly bad:
“Six Flags lost another ADA decision,” some told me.
“The judge in New Jersey got it dead wrong,
just like the judge in Texas,” said others.
“These judges are starting a war between parks and manufacturers,” someone
else suggested.
The newspaper headlines
seemed to uniformly focus on the “victory” for the disabled plaintiff.
Unfortunately, it took me a few days to get around
to actually reading the decision, and guess what?
Much to my surprise, I disagree with much of
the reaction I had encountered.
In fact,
while it is not a home run for Six Flags, there is much in the decision that is
extremely good for the industry in terms of ADA compliance.
Yes, at the end of the day Six Flags lost
this particular ruling, but focusing on that is a mistake as it overlooks two very
positive aspects of this ruling for the industry, and the strong chance I
believe Six Flags will have to win this case should it go to trial.
