Getting sued – in a group, by a "tester"

Was it really to protect disabled people, or fish for money? Either way, a macabre twist came next.

Ed Maas, longtime owner of the historic Orleans Inn on Town Cove near the Eastham line, knew he had a problem when he stopped by after donating to a Red Cross blood drive soon after Labor Day. He had just closed for the season so all should have been quiet, but there was a man walking around inside.

“Can I help you?” Ed asked, with a tone more like, What the hell are you doing here?

“I’m looking for Ed Maas,” the man said.

“I’m Ed Maas.”

That’s when papers were served.

Maas was being sued in federal court for allegedly violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Massachusetts Public Accommodations Act. The charge: Not doing everything required to be sure people with disabilities have equal access to the inn.

Ed was shocked. His restaurant is fully accessible; there’s an outdoor ramp into the lobby. Yes, 11 lodging rooms are up a flight of stairs built in 1875, but as required he was sure he had made that clear in his website and reservations postings, and his business long predated the creation of the ADA so he didn’t need to put in expensive elevators unless there was a change of use or ownership.

“You do everything right, you play by all the rules, then something like this happens,” he thought.

Shock soon morphed into outrage.

The plaintiff, Robert Petropoulos II, was the same plaintiff in at least 27 lawsuits across Massachusetts, pretty much identical, filed in US District Court since April, 2022. A bunch were on the Cape. Not only was the plaintiff the same, so was the attorney, Lee D. Sarkin, who listed an address in Burlington, MA, but apparently is based in Boca Raton, Florida.

One more common denominator was an offer that followed: Settle for $10,000. We go away and you’ll move on.

Not Ed Maas’ style.

He flagged the Eastham Chamber of Commerce and they sent an eblast to alert members. He talked to the press. He started getting calls from people in the same situation; bigger motels, a little B&B, the gamut. He always said the same thing:

“Listen, don’t settle. That’s what they want. It may cost some money but please, don’t settle … I set aside $50,000 and I don’t care if I have to spend every cent of it, I’m not going to settle.”

Maas’ attorney Terrence J. “T.J.” Hurrie from the law office of Bruce Bierhans kept digging. It became clear that Robert Petropoulos, who reportedly used a wheelchair and had a history of cardiac problems, was what they call a “tester.” Far as they could find, he had not set foot in Orleans let alone the Orleans Inn, and while his attorney argued otherwise they contended he had no real plans to visit there, nor any of the places he was suing. Comparable bundles of lawsuits have played out around the country; Bierhans estimated as many as 1000 in California alone.

“There are a few notorious ‘serial ADA plaintiffs’ out there who are responsible for hundreds, if not thousands of lawsuits across the country,” Hurrie reports, adding that he had spoken with Attorney Sarkin who “informed me that he had filed hundreds of these website reservation cases with success in Florida.”

“We all can do the math,” says Maas. “If there were 1000 places settling for $10,000 each, that’s $10 million.”

How did Mr. Petropoulos come to be represented by Attorney Sarkin? Who initiated contact? Who pooled the cases? If there are settlements or damages paid, how would they be divided? Attorney Sarkin did not reply to a request for explanations.

Maas’ attorney went into federal court and argued that Petropoulos, though a Massachusetts resident and disabled, did not have legitimate “standing”; he wasn’t really planning to go to the Orleans Inn and could show no “concrete harm … or immediate risk of harm.” They moved for dismissal.

The judge didn’t see it that way. The plaintiff has a right to sue, he ruled, regardless of how many times he chooses to do so. Plus he’s making allegations that focus on website language and reservation services that need to comply with ADA posting requirements so people can make informed choices, apart from ramps and elevators. Motion to dismiss denied: Present evidence, make the arguments.

Maas was not about to fold. He maintained his intent is honorable, his reservation system sound and transparent. He was ready for the next (more expensive) step.

Then, lo and behold, as can happen in this world, life intervened. Or should we say, death.

The plaintiff, Robert Petropoulos, passed.

Maas recalls getting a call from one of his children who was monitoring the inn’s inbox:

“The word came in an email, the man died! Without him, there can be no case, there’s no plaintiff. So it was being dropped, dismissed, just like that. Really, that was a twist no one expected.”

Formal dismissal was filed in a cluster of Massachusetts cases November 14 and 15.

Did other businesses settle and pay before this surprising turn of events? Settlements are kept confidential, but there’s a very good chance.

Are other clusters of cases proceeding in other states, with other plaintiffs? Yes.

Could this or another attorney locate another “tester” and come back at it in Massachusetts? Yes.

And is the appearance that this a legal fishing expedition, rather than a bona fide attempt to protect disabled people, really true? Hard to say, but the question surely is valid.

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