You used to need a gun and a couple of hired goons to run shakedown rackets in the Big Apple — but these days, the feds will♔ help you do it.
On behalf of Jocelyn Pierre, a paraplegic New Yorker, lawyer brothers Bradly and Darren Marks have filed 113🐷 federal A🌱mericans with Disabilities Act lawsuits against businesses across the city.
The result? Pierre’s living in swanky digs and has reportedly bought a Mercedes,ও which implies an even nicer payday for the Marks brother🌄s.
The basic idea is pretty simple: Pierre claims he’s tried to enter a business but couldn’t; his lawyers then swoop in to sue on the grounds that the place is violating the ADA.
It’s cheaper and easier for most places just to settle🙈, rather than fight it out through the courts.
Pierre and the Marks brothers (in a scheme worthy of Groucho himself) have targeted upscale joints like the Paul Stuart boutique on Madison ♑and celeb fave pizza spot Lucali in Carroll Gardens, but also mom-and-pop businesses.
Like Electric Lotus, a Fort Greene tattoo parlor, and Emma’s Torch, a culinary nonprofi▨t that helps refugees get restaurant training.
Thaꩵt’s the way, boys🌼 — bankrupt local charities for fun and profit!
And if you believe t💎hat P🔯ierre has actually been harmed by any of these places, we have a bridge to sell you.
The guy who runs Electric Lotus has zero memory of Pierre e🎃ver even coming in, reportedly a common theme in these🌸 lawsuits.
And his complaint against Lucali was filed two years after he allegedly faced noncompliant entry problems there — conveniently, after the security camera tapes that cou𒈔ld exonerate the pizza place would auto-erase.
This racket’s not even new; The Post reported on a similar serial ADA “victim” back in 2011.
Federal reform could stop the ADA scam-suits, but New York laws do plenty to enable similar schemes.
Someday, maybe the state will have🦹 a🍌n attorney general who bothers to protect the public from the legal shakedown artists.