Class Action Alleges Arco, AM/PM Gas Stations Violate ADA

A class action lawsuit filed in Oregon alleges that Arco and AM/PM gas stations (owned by BP West Coast Products LLC) do not meet all of the standards for wheelchair accessibility as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

“Unless Defendant is required to remove the access barriers described below, and required to change its policies so that access barriers do not reoccur at Defendant’s facilities, Plaintiff will continue to be denied full access to those facilities as described, and will be deterred from fully using Defendant’s facilities,” the Arco ADA class action lawsuit alleges.

The ADA requires that public business and government buildings be “readily accessible to, and independently usable by, people with disabilities.” So an “access barrier” is something that stops or restricts people with certain disabilities from entering or using a location.

The ADA class action lawsuit against Arco and AM/PM alleges that “Defendant’s facilities are not fully accessible to, and independently usable by, individuals who use wheelchairs.”

According to the Arco AM/PM class action lawsuit, plaintiff Lauren Sylvis is a paraplegic who relies on a wheelchair to go places. She alleges that multiple Acro and AM/PM gas stations were not properly designed for wheelchair use, and she had problems while visiting those businesses.

Specifically, Sylvis claims that five gas stations in Portland, Ore., had multiple “access barriers,” including: accessible parking spaces with too steep of a slope (over 2.1 percent grade); aisles in the stations having too steep of a slope; and not having proper signs on accessible spaces.

In addition, the class action lawsuit states that BP’s corporate policy to comply with the ADA is inadequate “in both their conception and implementation.” Sylvis alleges that BP is required to build its Arco and AM/PM gas stations to be compliant with the ADA, and to modify existing gas stations to remove such “access barriers,” but has not because of its central corporate policies.

“Absent a change in Defendant’s corporate policies, access barriers are likely to reoccur in Defendant’s facilities even after they have been remediated,” the ADA class action lawsuit claims.

The Arco AM/PM lawsuit seeks to represent “all wheelchair users who have attempted, or will attempt, to utilize the parking facilities at locations for which Defendant owns and/or controls the parking facilities.”

The goal of the ADA class action lawsuit is to force BP to fix the specific Arco and AM/PM gas stations mentioned in the lawsuit, change its corporate compliance policy so these problems do not occur in the future, and monitor its gas stations so no new ADA violations.

Without this relief, the Arco AM/PM class action lawsuit states, “Plaintiff will continue to be unable to fully and safely access Defendant’s facilities in violation of her rights under the ADA.”

Sylvis is represented by Steve D. Larson of Stoll Stoll Berne Lokting & Schlachter P.C., and Benjamin J. Sweet and Stephanie K. Goldin of Carlson Lynch Sweet & Kilpela, LLP.

The Arco AM/PM ADA Class Action Lawsuit is Sylvis v. BP West Coast Products LLC, Case No. 3:15-cv-02094, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, Portland Division.