Bell Comments on SCOTUS ADA Case Acheson Hotels v. Laufer
Pryor Cashman Counsel Sarah Bell, co-chair of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Defense + Consulting Practice and a member of the Litigation and Labor + Employment Groups, spoke with Law360 about the oral arguments in Acheson Hotels v. Laufer, an ADA-focused matter before the U.S. Supreme Court.
In “‘Dead, Dead, Dead’: Justices Say Mootness May Kill ADA Case,” Sarah presents her takeaways from the arguments:
Sarah Bell, a co-chair of Pryor Cashman LLP’s ADA defense and consulting practice, listened to the Supreme Court’s live audio Wednesday and said she was surprised at the wide-ranging scope of the argument.
“We went from ‘this case is dead as a doornail’ to so many hypotheticals,” Bell said. “There was some mention of manipulation of the court’s jurisdiction. I was pleased to hear some conversation about the pattern and practice of the number of these ADA lawsuits that are being brought.”
Bell said the ADA legal community has some concerns the high court can’t keep granting petitions for writ of certiorari and then have the cases mooted, as that could result in the court never actually addressing the underlying standing issue.
“I was really hoping for an indication that there would be more clarity on the standing issue, and we might see that, but I’m a little less hopeful now than I was before the argument,” Bell said. “I think there’s a chance that the court won’t address standing at all, and then we’ll continue to be in the gray area that we’ve been in for a while.”
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