UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS

DEBORAH LAUFER, Individually,

Plaintiff,

v.

NORTH CHICAGO DEVELOPMENT,

LIMITED, domestic BCA,

Defendant.

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Case No.

COMPLAINT

(Injunctive Relief Demanded)

Plaintiff, DEBORAH LAUFER, Individually, on her behalf and on behalf of all other

individuals similarly situated, (sometimes referred to as “Plaintiff”), hereby sues the Defendant,

NORTH CHICAGO DEVELOPMENT, LIMITED, domestic BCA, (sometimes referred to as

“Defendant”), for InjunctiveRelief, and attorney’sfees, litigation expenses, and costs pursuant to the

Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12181 et seq. (“ADA”).

1. Plaintiff is a resident of Florida, is sui juris, and qualifies as an individual with

disabilities as defined by the ADA. Plaintiff is unable to engage in the major life

activity of walking more than a few steps without assistive devices. Instead, Plaintiff

is bound to ambulate in a wheelchair or with a cane or other support and has limited

use of her hands. She is unable to tightly grasp, pinch and twist of the wrist to

operate. Plaintiff is also vision impaired. When ambulating beyond the comfort of her

own home, Plaintiff must primarily rely on a wheelchair. Plaintiff requires accessible

handicap parking spaceslocated closet to the entrances of a facility. The handicap and

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access aisles must be of sufficient width so that she can embark and disembark from

a ramp into her vehicle.Routes connecting the handicap spaces and allfeatures, goods

and services of a facility must be level, properly sloped, sufficiently wide and without

cracks, holes or other hazards that can pose a danger of tipping, catching wheels or

falling. These areas must be free of obstructions or unsecured carpeting that make

passage either more difficult or impossible. Amenities must be sufficiently lowered so

that Plaintiff can reach them. She has difficulty operating door knobs, sink faucets, or

other operating mechanismsthat tight grasping, twisting of the wrist or pinching. She

is hesitant to use sinks that have unwrapped pipes, as such pose a danger of scraping

or burning her legs. Sinks must be at the proper height so that she can put her legs

underneath to wash her hands. She requires grab bars both behind and beside a

commode so that she can safely transfer and she has difficulty reaching the flush

control if it is on the wrong side. She has difficulty getting through doorways if they

lack the proper clearance.

2. Plaintiff is an advocate of the rights of similarly situated disabled persons and is a

"tester" for the purpose of asserting her civil rights and monitoring, ensuring, and

determining whether places of public accommodation and their websites are in

compliance with the ADA.

3. According to the county property records, Defendant owns a place of public

accommodation as defined by the ADA and the regulations implementing the ADA,

28 CFR36.201(a) and 36.104. The place ofpublic accommodationthat the Defendant

owns is a place of lodging known as Sleep Inn Near Great Lakes 3250 Bittersweet

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Ave., Lake Bluff, Illinois and is located in the County of Lake, (hereinafter

"Property").

4. Venue is properly located in this District because the subject property is located in

this district.

5. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331 and 28 U.S.C. § 1343, this Court has been given

original jurisdiction over actions which arise from the Defendant’s violations of Title

III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12181 et seq. See also 28

U.S.C. § 2201 and § 2202.

6. As the owner of the subject place of lodging, Defendant is required to comply with

the ADA. As such, Defendant is required to ensure that it's place of lodging is in

compliance with the standards applicable to places of public accommodation, as set

forth in the regulations promulgated by the Department Of Justice. Said regulations

are set forth in the Code Of FederalRegulations, the Americans With Disabilities Act

Architectural Guidelines ("ADAAGs"), and the 2010 ADA Standards, incorporated

by reference into the ADA. These regulations impose requirements pertaining to

places of public accommodation, including places of lodging, to ensure that they are

accessible to disabled individuals.

7. More specifically, 28 C.F.R. Section36.302(e)(1)imposesthe following requirement: 

Reservations made by places of lodging. A public accommodation that owns,

leases (or leases to), or operates a place of lodging shall, with respect to

reservations made by any means, including by telephone, in-person, or through a

third party -

(i) Modify its policies, practices, or procedures to ensure that individuals

with disabilities can make reservations for accessible guest rooms during

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the same hours and in the same manner as individuals who do not need

accessible rooms;

(ii) Identify and describe accessible features in the hotels and guest rooms

offered through its reservations service in enough detail to reasonably

permit individuals with disabilities to assess independently whether a given

hotel or guest room meets his or her accessibility needs;

(iii) Ensure that accessible guest rooms are held for use by individuals with

disabilities until all other guest rooms of that type have been rented and the

accessible room requested is the only remaining room of that type;

(iv) Reserve, upon request, accessible guest rooms or specific types of

guest rooms and ensure that the guest rooms requested are blocked and

removed from all reservations systems; and 

(v) Guarantee that the specific accessible guest room reserved through its

reservations service is held for the reserving customer, regardless of

whether a specific room is held in response to reservations made by others.

8. These regulations became effective March 15, 2012.

9. Defendant, either itself or by and through a third party, accepts reservations for its

hotel online through one or more websites. The purpose of these websites is so

that members of the public may reserve guest accommodations and review

information pertaining to the goods, services, features, facilities, benefits,

advantages, and accommodations of the Property. As such, these websites are

subject to the requirements of 28 C.F.R. Section 36.302(e).

10. Prior to the commencement of this lawsuit, Plaintiff visited the websites for the

purpose of reviewing and assessing the accessible features at the Property and

ascertain whether they meet the requirements of 28 C.F.R. Section 36.302(e) and

her accessibility needs. However, Plaintiff was unable to do so because Defendant

failed to comply with the requirements set forth in 28 C.F.R. Section 36.302(e). As

a result, Plaintiff was deprived the same goods, services, features, facilities,

benefits, advantages, and accommodations of the Property available to the general

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public. Specifically, the online reservations system for Sleep Inn Near Great Lakes

were not compliant with the above listed regulations upon review of the following

websites: www.expedia.com; www.booking.com; www.orbitz.com;

www.priceline.com; www.agoda.com and www.trip.com.

a. The online reservations service provided through Expedia does not identify

or allow for booking of accessible rooms and provides insufficient

information about accessibility at the hotel.

b. The online reservations system provided through Booking does not identify

or allow for booking of accessible rooms and provides insufficient

information about accessibility at the hotel.

c. The online reservations system provided through Oribtz does not identify

or allow for booking of accessible rooms and provides insufficient

information about accessibility at the hotel.

d. The online reservations system provided through Agoda does not identify

or allow for booking of accessible rooms and provides insufficent

information about accessibility at the hotel.

e. The online reservations system provided through Trip does not identify or

allow for booking of accessible rooms and provides insufficent information

about accessibility at the hotel.

11. In the near future, Plaintiff intends to revisit Defendant's online reservations

system in order to test it for compliance with 28 C.F.R. Section 36.302(e). In this

respect, Plaintiff maintains a system to ensure that she revisits the online

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reservations system of every hotel she sues. By this system, Plaintiff maintains a list

of all hotels she has sued with several columns following each. She continually

updates this list by, among other things, entering the dates she did visit and plans

to again visit the hotel's online reservations system. With respect to each hotel,

she visits the online reservations system multiple times prior to the complaint being

filed, then visits again shortly after the complaint is filed. Once a judgment is

obtained or settlement agreement reached, she records the date by which the

hotel's online reservations system must be compliant and revisits when that date

arrives.

12. Plaintiff is continuously aware that the subject websites remain non-compliant and

that it would be a futile gesture to revisit the websites as long as those violations

exist unless she is willing to suffer additional discrimination.

13. The violations present at Defendant's websites infringe Plaintiff's right to travel free

of discrimination and deprive her of the information required to make meaningful

choices for travel. Plaintiff has suffered, and continues to suffer, frustration and

humiliation as the result of the discriminatory conditions present at Defendant's

website. By continuing to operate the websites with discriminatory conditions,

Defendant contributes to Plaintiff's sense of isolation and segregation and deprives

Plaintiff the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges

and/or accommodations available to the general public. By encountering the

discriminatory conditions at Defendant's website, and knowing that it would be a

futile gesture to return to the websites unless she is willing to endure additional

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discrimination, Plaintiff is deprived of the same advantages, privileges, goods,

services and benefits readily available to the general public. By maintaining a

websiteswith violations, Defendant deprives Plaintiff the equality of opportunity

offered to the general public. Defendant's online reservations system serves as a

gateway to its hotel. Because this online reservations system discriminates against

Plaintiff, it is thereby more difficult to book a room at the hotel or make an

informed decision as to whether the facilities at the hotel are accessible.

14. Plaintiff has suffered and will continue to suffer direct and indirect injury as a result

of the Defendant’s discrimination until the Defendant is compelled to modify its

websites to comply with the requirements of the ADA and to continually monitor

and ensure that the subject websitesremains in compliance.

15. Plaintiff has a realistic, credible, existing and continuing threat of discrimination

from the Defendant’s non-compliance with the ADA with respect to these

websites. Plaintiff has reasonable grounds to believe that she will continue to be

subjected to discrimination in violation of the ADA by the Defendant.

16. The Defendant has discriminated against the Plaintiff by denying her access to, and

full and equal enjoyment of, the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages

and/or accommodations of the subject website.

17. The Plaintiff and all others similarly situated will continue to suffer such

discrimination, injury and damage without the immediate relief provided by the

ADA as requested herein.

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18. Defendant has discriminated against the Plaintiff by denying her access to full and

equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages and/or

accommodations of its place of public accommodation or commercial facility in

violation of 42 U.S.C. § 12181 et seq. and 28 CFR 36.302(e). Furthermore, the

Defendant continues to discriminate against the Plaintiff, and all those similarly

situated by failing to make reasonable modifications in policies, practices or

procedures, when such modifications are necessary to afford all offered goods,

services, facilities, privileges, advantages or accommodations to individuals with

disabilities; and by failing to take such efforts that may be necessary to ensure that

no individual with a disability is excluded, denied services, segregated or otherwise

treated differently than other individuals because of the absence of auxiliary aids

and services.

19. Plaintiff is without adequate remedy at law and is suffering irreparable harm.

Plaintiff has retained the undersigned counsel and is entitled to recover attorney’s

fees, costs and litigation expenses from the Defendant pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §

12205 and 28 CFR 36.505.

20. Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 12188, this Court is provided with authority to grant

Plaintiff Injunctive Relief, including an order to require the Defendant to alter the

subject websites to make them readily accessible and useable to the Plaintiff and all

other persons with disabilities as defined by the ADAand 28 C.F.R. Section

36.302(e); or by closing the websites until such time as the Defendant cures its

violations of the ADA.

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WHEREFORE, Plaintiff respectfully requests:

a. The Court issue a Declaratory Judgment that determines that the Defendant at the

commencement of the subject lawsuit isin violation of Title III ofthe Americans with

Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12181 et seq. and 28 C.F.R. Section 36.302(e).

b. Injunctive relief against the Defendant including an order to revise its websitesto

comply with 28 C.F.R. Section 36.302(e) and to implement a policy to monitor and

maintain the websitesto ensure that it remains in compliance with said requirement.

c. An award of attorney’s fees, costs and litigation expenses pursuant to 42 U.S.C.

§ 12205.

d. Such other relief as the Court deems just and proper, and/or is allowable under

Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Respectfully Submitted,

_/s/ Amale Knox__

Amale Knox, Of Counsel

Thomas B. Bacon, P.A.

330 Harrison St.

Pontiac, MI 48341

(248) 719-1001

amale.knox.esq@gmail.com

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______________________________________________________________________________

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

for the

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS

DEBORAH LAUFER, Individually,

Plaintiff,

v.

NORTH CHICAGO DEVELOPMENT,

LIMITED, domestic BCA,

Defendant.

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) Civil Action No.

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SUMMONS IN A CIVIL ACTION

To: NORTH CHICAGO DEVELOPMENT, LIMITED

c/o Anand Patel

3250 Bittersweet Ave.

Lake Bluff, IL 60044

A lawsuit has been filed against you.

Within 21 days after service of this summons on you (not counting the day you received

it) — or 60 days if you are the United States or a United States agency, or an officer or employee

of the United States described in Fed. R. Civ. P. 12 (a)(2) or (3) — you must serve on the

plaintiff an answer to the attached complaint or a motion under Rule 12 of the Federal Rules of

Civil Procedure. The answer or motion must be served on the plaintiff or plaintiff’s attorney,

whose name and address are: 

Amale Knox, Of Counsel

Thomas B. Bacon, P.A.

330 Harrison St.

Pontiac, MI 48341

(248) 719-1001

amale.knox.esq@gmail.com

If you fail to respond, judgment by default will be entered against you for the relief

demanded in the complaint. You also must file your answer or motion with the court.

CLERK OF COURT

Date: ________________________ ____________________________

Signature of Clerk or Deputy

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