ATTY'S HAS 'DOLLAR SIGNS IN HIS EYES'
Exploits the blind to sue us: businesses
A Manhattan lawyer is shamelessly using a blind rapper and other handicapped clients to rake in “millions of dollars” for himself — while leaving them with a pittance, court papers charge.
C.K. Lee regularly slaps businesses with lawsuits claiming their Web sites aren’t compatible with special software that allows blind people to read text on a screen, court records show.
He has used Derrick Anderson, a 22-year-old Queens rapper, as a plaintiff in 25 of the suits since January, the documents show.
Anderson, who performs under the name N’YCE, has been completely blind since he was baby, when his eyes were removed because of a malignant tumor.
But he and the other plaintiffs can receive up to only $500 per case in Lee’s cookie-cutter suits under state law.
Meanwhile, a lawyer for one sued business charges that Lee “has undoubtedly recovered millions of dollars from the approximately 140 similar” suits involving Anderson and other plaintiffs since 2015.
That lawyer, Justin Marino, is defending the Paper Factory Hotel in Long Island City, Queens, against a Brooklyn federal court suit filed by Anderson and Lee.
In court papers, Marino denounces their suit as a “shakedown,” noting that if Anderson could not navigate the hotel’s site, all he had to do to make a reservation was “pick up a phone.”
Court rulings are mixed on whether businesses’ Web sites, not just physical stores, must comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, which guarantees accessibility to services.
Marino says in court papers that he researched Anderson’s other suits handled by Lee and found that “nearly all settled.” Fourteen were still pending.
The settlements are not public. But Lee’s Web site boasts “hundreds of millions of dollars in payments” since 2012, including a “six-figure settlement against an internationally recognized restaurant chain” this year.
One of Anderson’s cases was against Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, which owns The Cheesecake Factory chain. It was settled for an undisclosed amount in July.
A lawyer for the firm did not respond to requests for comment.
Anderson, who lives with his mom, declined to comment when reached at their Flushing home.
Adriane Stare, owner of a baby store in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, beat an Anderson suit this month without paying a dime.
Lee dropped the claim after her lawyer, Maximillian Travis, accused him of ethics violations for refusing to relay a $500 settlement offer to Anderson.
“You have to ask yourself if they really care about the blind,” Travis said.
Lee did not return messages seeking comment. But he says in court papers that his firm has been “in the forefront of advocacy for the disabled” and had donated “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to schools for the disabled.