#135 COMMENTS "mundy mundy"

The worst “Mundy” of your business life

Thomas Mundy is not in your garden store to pick up a pack of pansies or a can of bug spray. His mission is to find any violation of the American Disabilities Act and haul you into court.

Mr. Mundy’s career is to make you miserable. And it’s a great living for he and others like him who scour small businesses for these violations. It has been widely reported that in California, Mundy, the wheelchair bound paraplegic, earns about 100,000.00 a year from your checkbook for his efforts

“Mundy is trolling for barriers to his patronage — a threshold too high for his wheelchair, a parking lot with blue-striped access lanes narrower than eight feet, a public restroom where the coat hook on the back of the door, if there is one, is above his reach.”

“He might as well have had a gun and asked me for $1,000 when he came in,” Paul Venetos, owner of Anaheim’s Varsity Burgers, said of an April visit by Mundy that led to a lawsuit over a condiments counter that was half an inch too high. The burger joint’s security camera recorded Mundy wheeling in, looking around for a few minutes then leaving without perusing a menu or attempting to order, Venetos said. He believes Mundy came in only to look for a chink in his ADA armor.

“Confined to a wheelchair in California?”, another California attorney advertises, “You may be entitled to $1,000 each time you can’t use something at a business because of your disability.” If someone in a wheelchair has been doing laundry once a month for a year at a laundromat where the paper-towel dispenser is too high, “you’re entitled to $12,000,” the lawyer advertises.

Garden stores can be lucrative targets for these characters. We are not always free of obstacles and debris. Many of our facilities are temporary in nature, and our outdoor areas are just not always equipped to handle the requirements of the American Disabilities Act.

At green garden gates, we have developed a checklist for ADA compliance in order to avoid people like Thomas Mundy. Section leaders are responsible for their areas to insure that customers with disabilities have a smooth and unfettered shopping experience.

Parking areas

Are the disabled parking stalls;

Of the proper widths and length for ADA compliance?
Marked and signed properly?
Surface paint bright and recently painted?
A smooth and even surface free of obstacles, grades and steps?
Located the closest possible to a handicapped accessible store entrance?
“Access route” signed properly and that route to the entrance is safe and convenient?
Ramps leading to the entrance of the proper grade and skid free surface?


Bathrooms

Are these areas signed properly?
Are the entrances and exits to these areas wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs?
Is the hardware on the entrance and exit doors easy to operate, free of difficult twisting and turning?
Are the toilet stalls wide enough for adequate maneuvering space?
Are the coat hooks positioned low enough?
Is the bathroom mirrors full length to accommodate disabilities issues?
Are there grab bars in the toilet stalls?
Is the wash basin and towel dispenser low enough for wheelchair customers?
Is there an emergency alarm light and emergency lighting installed in the bathrooms for all customers?


Convenience Areas

Are the refreshment machines accessible to the disabled?
Are the water fountains and paper water cups positioned low enough for easy access?
Are any tables, chairs and counters inaccessible or obstructing wheelchair movement?
Signing
Is all signing positioned to be easily read by the disabled?
Does the signing include braille for convenience areas?
Checkout and information areas
Is come part of the checkout counters low enough to accommodate wheelchair bound customers?
Can the purchasing and the checkout at the counters be easily transacted by customers with disabilities?
Are the cash registers positioned to be easily read by the disabled?
Are the checkout lanes wide enough for smooth accessibility?



Shopping

Are the shopping aisles wide enough with no dead ends?
Are the products easily accessible for wheelchair customers?
Are there small shopping baskets available?
Are the shopping surfaces free of obstructions; holes, garden hose, products?