![\"Anthony](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777286841_574_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nAnthony Bouyer has been on a suing spree around the San Fernando Valley.<\/p>\n
On Sept. 24, the 55-year-old internet marketer confronted a counter at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican spot that was difficult to reach over in his wheelchair. He sued the business for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. In L.A. County, it was at least his 231st case of the year. <\/p>\n
At the convenience store next door, he found a produce scale out of arm\u2019s length. He sued them too.<\/p>\n
Two shops over at another Mexican spot, he noticed a cracked parking lot and cumbersome door hardware. Owner Elia Barraza was served a day before her 53rd birthday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis person is just suing anyone,\u201d said her still-fuming son, Steven Barraza. \u201cIt\u2019s just for nitpicking things.\u201d <\/p>\n
Lawsuits under the Americans with Disabilities Act \u2014 a federal civil rights law widely known as the ADA \u2014 have long flourished in California, where a unique state law enables payouts over various infractions. The money, advocates say, is one of the few surefire ways to get businesses to make their stores accessible and abide by the landmark law that has transformed the lives of disabled Americans.<\/p>\n
But small businesses settling the claims say they\u2019ve reached a breaking point under a barrage of lawsuits from a handful of plaintiffs \u2014 all represented by one firm.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Anthony Bouyer takes a photo of the parking lot at Toluca Pharmacy in Studio City. He later sued the pharmacy for ADA violations.<\/p>\n
(Adrine Martirosyan)<\/p>\n
Manning Law, based in Orange County, has become the go-to for serial ADA plaintiffs, including Bouyer. Last year, seven of the firm\u2019s regular clients sued more than 1,000 businesses in Southern California, court filings show.<\/p>\n
The filings have attracted scrutiny from authorities. The firm\u2019s owner, Joseph Manning, recently had his license suspended by the State Bar for allegedly making false statements about billable hours involving dozens of ADA lawsuits. The firm denied all wrongdoing and said its billing practice has been \u201cmodified\u201d to the bar\u2019s satisfaction.<\/p>\n
The Barraza family said a lawyer representing Bouyer asked them for $25,000. That\u2019s several months of profit for El Huarachito Casero, they say, where margins from a lunchtime crowd of construction workers have been thinned out by recent immigration raids. The family said they negotiated it down to $10,000.<\/p>\n
Bouyer could not be reached for comment and did not respond to a letter left at his home. In depositions, he has cast himself as a disability advocate in legal filings, determined to make California more navigable for those in wheelchairs. <\/p>\n
He explained he was paralyzed after a surgery to remove a spinal cord tumor about a decade ago. Since then, he says, he has been trying to \u201cimprove the lives of disabled people.\u201d <\/p>\n
To that end, he says he traverses the county armed with a 12-inch level gauge to measure the slopes of store aisles and parking spaces. <\/p>\n
\u201cEverywhere I go, if I see something that doesn\u2019t look correct, I measure it,\u201d Bouyer said in a 2023 deposition. <\/p>\n
California is one of the few states where people with disabilities can receive $4,000 or more if they visit a business where they see something that runs afoul of the strict requirements of the ADA \u2014 a slope too steep, an aisle too narrow, a parking lot too bumpy. The state\u2019s Unruh Civil Rights Act, which allows the financial penalty, is meant to force businesses to proactively think about the needs of their disabled clientele. <\/p>\n
But some business owners say a tiny number of professional plaintiffs are converting minor violations into a deluge of lawsuits and a steady flow of cash.<\/p>\n
Zuheir Nakkoud, the manager of a Sylmar liquor store, said he watched Bouyer measure the width of his handicapped parking space this October before coming inside to buy a bottle of water. <\/p>\n
Nakkoud said patients in wheelchairs from the nearby dialysis center navigated his aisles just fine. But fighting the lawsuit, he figured, would only cost more. He said the store agreed to pay $14,000. It was lawsuit #232 of the year in L.A. County for Bouyer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis money\u2019s for my kids, not for him,\u201d said Nakkoud.<\/p>\n
Bouyer visited the liquor store and produce market down the block the same day. Both were later sued by Manning Law.<\/p>\n
This fall, the State Bar suspended<\/a> the firm\u2019s founder, Joseph Manning, for one year after a federal judge accused the firm<\/a> of submitting \u201cfraudulent billing statements\u201d across dozens of cases. Manning said at the time all billing was \u201ctrue and correct.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2019, the Riverside County district attorney<\/a> sued Manning and three other lawyers for allegedly filing more than a hundred ADA suits with false information on behalf of a man who prosecutors said exaggerated the severity of his disability. The case was dismissed with prejudice after the judge ruled the communications at the crux of the lawsuit were privileged.<\/p>\n Mike Manning, an attorney with the firm, called the Riverside D.A.\u2019s lawsuit \u201cmisguided\u201d and said every case they take on undergoes a rigorous vetting and inspection process. <\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, the most common practice today is to wait to get sued and only then take action,\u201d he wrote in an email, adding no court has ever deemed one of the firm\u2019s disability cases frivolous. <\/p>\n Brian Whitaker, one of Manning\u2019s most active plaintiffs, was previously represented in hundreds of suits by law firm Potter Handy. The firm was sued in 2022 by the district attorneys<\/a> in Los Angeles and San Francisco for filing a flurry of ADA lawsuits with alleged fake claims. <\/p>\n The suit was dismissed after a judge ruled the litigation privilege protected the firm. Rene Potter, who was a lead attorney at the firm, now represents more than 700 plaintiffs<\/a> in the latest round of sex abuse claims against L.A. County. <\/p>\n Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle in Sacramento agree something has gone awry in the legal landscape, but the effort to fix the problem appears to have stalled. A bipartisan bill<\/a> sponsored by Sen. Roger Niello (R-Fair Oaks) last year that would have given businesses more time to fix the violations before penalties kicked in was never called for a hearing in the Assembly. <\/p>\n Niello said his bill is being \u201cheld hostage\u201d by Assemblyman Ash Kalra (D-San Jos\u00e9), who he said prefers a competing bill. A spokesperson for Kalra, who chairs the California Assembly Judiciary Committee, responded to an inquiry from The Times by pointing to a statement from last year<\/a> in which the lawmaker said he wanted a \u201cmore balanced\u201d bill, with buy-in from more disability and civil rights organizations.<\/p>\n Attorney Ara Sahelian at a Moo Moo Mia in Monrovia. The shop is one of hundreds he has defended against ADA lawsuits. <\/p>\n (Kayla Bartkowski \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Most business owners facing ADA claims opt to settle out of court. Those who choose to fight often end up with Ara Sahelian, a defense attorney who estimates he has litigated more than a hundred cases against Manning Law. His passion, he says, is taking them to trial.<\/p>\n \u201cFour years ago, I had a fuse trip, and I said I\u2019m not settling these cases anymore,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n At his home office, Sahelian, 69, who has been unable to walk since he contracted polio at 6 months old, keeps thick black binders devoted to each serial plaintiff. Bouyer gets three. So does Perla Mageno, a Manning Law plaintiff who has sued hundreds of businesses under the ADA over websites she claims don\u2019t work with her screen-reading software<\/a>. <\/p>\n![\"Attorney](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777286842_794_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
![\"Kenny](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777286843_541_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n