Long Beach Will Pay $180M to Settle ADA Class Action Lawsuit

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The City of Long Beach has agreed to spend $180 million on new walkways to settle a class action lawsuit alleging the city violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by discriminating against people in wheelchairs.

Lead plaintiffs alleged in their 2014 class action lawsuit that those in wheelchairs were blocked from navigating the city by steep sidewalk ramps, gutters, and sharp curb lips.

Those in wheelchairs were forced onto dangerous city streets to make their way around or had to take long routes around obstacles if they could make it to their destination at all.

The City of Long Beach violated their “basic right to travel independently and prevent[ing] them from being fully integrated into community life,” alleges the class action lawsuit.

Under the terms of the settlement, the City of Long Beach will spend $180.25 million to provide new curb ramps and update pedestrian walkways to make them more accessible to those with disabilities and come into compliance with the ADA. Class Members will be able to request repairs at certain locations from the city.

According to settlement documents, $5.25 million will be set aside for repairs over the next 10 years. The city will spend $50 million on curb ramp repairs – 1,000 curb ramps will be installed over the next two years, with an additional 4,500 over the following five. Then $125 million will be spent upgrading and repairing sidewalks and crosswalks over the next 30 years.

The class action settlement agreement also requires that Long Beach hire an ADA coordinator and implement a 30-year plan. The City of Long Beach will begin with a self-evaluation of its walk and road ways.

The settlement agreement was granted approval by a California federal judge who noted that the City of Long Beach had likely subjected tens of thousands of people with disabilities to discrimination by failing to comply with the ADA. Attorneys for the Class Members say that the process will take time, but the changes will allow people to be more involved in their communities, have access to jobs and healthcare.

The Long Beach ADA class action lawsuit was initiated in 2014 and continued for four years until the settlement agreement. The plaintiffs, represented by attorneys from the Disability Rights Legal Center and Disability Rights Advocates, alleged that the City of Long Beach shirked their responsibilities to their disabled residents for decades. The plaintiffs claimed that the city violated the ADA as well as California state disability rights laws.

Class Members are represented by Meredith Weaver and Sean Betouliere of Disability Rights Advocates, Anna Rivera and Maronel Barajas of Disability Rights Legal Center, and Linda M. Dardarian, Raymond Wendell and Andrew P. Lee of Goldstein Borgen Dardarian & Ho.

The Long Beach ADA Class Action Lawsuit is Hector Ochoa, et al. v. City of Long Beach, et al., Case No. 2:14-­cv-­04307, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.