As some of you may have noticed, the valet parking service is no longer allowed to obstruct access to disabled parking spaces by enclosing them with the valet barricades, and charging disabled persons valet parking fees to make use of these disabled spaces.
That is my work and a burden for me to over the past three years and four months of fighting with the Department of Justice and NorthPark to get changed.
On November 28, 2011 NorthPark Management finally signed an agreement with the Department of Justice to bring their facilities into compliance with the ADA and provide evidence of that compliance within 60 days of their signing.
The DOJ staff leaned on me, and I mean leaned on me heavily, in order to convince me to participate in their mediation process, before asking for a complete investigation. They suggested that my complaint would be looked upon less favorably by the DOJ staff if I did not try to resolve the complaint prior to asking the DOJ to investigate. I foolishly agreed to do so.
In preparation for this mediation I incurred attorney fees of the nearly $9,000 which I am still out of pocket with no hope of assistance from the DOJ in recovering any of it. It seems unfair to me that I as a private citizen should have to subsidize the DOJ in it's actions and then when a settlement benefiting all disabled persons, be left uncompensated.
My attorneys turned out enormous amounts of documents and communications leading up to the mediation. Turns out the whole mediation process is a sham. The only party to possibly benefit from it were the folks at NorthPark Management, because they could say they acted in good faith by going to mediation, despite their conduct therein. All the while the could still collect an enormous amount of revenue by leaving their valet and parking arrangements in violation of the ADA.
Both Carmen Romero and her supervisor, Jana Erickson at the DOJ have known all along that I had spent out of pocket these expenses. Yet they negotiated the agreement with NorthPark which will require them to bring their facilities into compliance with the ADA and it was Ms. Romero and Ms. Erickson who presented to me, a waiver written by the attorneys for NorthPark, giving up any and all of my rights to make any further attempt to collect my out of pocket expenses.
That's right folks, the Department of Justice expected me to just swallow the loss of nearly $8,000 in addition to the indignities and abuse NorthPark's security and contractors heaped on me when I tried to get access to a disabled parking space the day described in my original complaint filed with the DOJ and which you can read on a separate page of this blog.
In my opinion, any reasonable person might expect that they, Ms. Romero and Ms. Erickson would at least have tried to get me reimbursement for my expenses before suggesting I give up all other legal remedies for collecting them on my own. I think that speaks volumes about the character of both these ladies. I refused to sign the Waiver and Release in exchange for $1,000 because I hope to recover all of my expenses, somehow, in the future. But as I live on disability I no longer have any funds available to pursue this matter through the courts.
Is there anything or anyone at your organization who can point me in the right direction in terms of being reimbursed for my expenses, time, and injury?
To add insult to injury, Carmen Romero, Department of Justice, Civil Rights Section, Disabilities Division, on the day she presented me with the waiver from NorthPark refused to provide me with a copy of the settlement of my own complaint. Consequently, I have had to file a Freedom of Information Request and will probably have to wait months to get the document(s).
I have attached a copy of my original complaint to the DOJ, a copy of the waiver prepared by NorthPark's attorneys, and the response from the DOJ to my Freedom of Information Request.
I hope for any assistance you can provide me in terms of how to proceed and with whom.
Sincerely,
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