Law firm Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP (JMBM) has issued a warning about Pacific Trial Attorneys, a Newport Beach-based law firm. According to JMBM, Pacific Trial Attorneys has filed hundreds of lawsuits on behalf of serial plaintiffs. These lawsuits often target businesses' websites and may lack substantial merit.
In a blog post shared by Lexology, JMBM detailed that many of the lawsuits filed by Pacific Trial Attorneys allege violations of the California Unruh Civil Rights Act or the Americans with Disabilities Act. "Serial" plaintiffs, who file dozens or even hundreds of lawsuits, use Pacific Trial Attorneys to accuse businesses of failing to maintain accessibility tools on their websites, JMBM wrote. The plaintiffs represented by Pacific Trial Attorneys frequently assert that they are vision-impaired and use screen reading software to access the internet. Their lawsuits contend that businesses maintain their websites in such a way that impedes access for them and other vision-impaired individuals.
JMBM advised in the post that businesses facing such a lawsuit from Pacific Trial Attorneys should engage experienced Unruh/ADA counsel and assess the validity of the claims. The law firm recommended that businesses and their counsel determine liability, as some lawsuits may lack merit and could be defended against or dismissed. It was noted that Pacific Trial Attorneys' lawsuits are frequently filed in Superior Court for the County of Los Angeles.
A report from the American Tort Reform Association revealed that between 2017 and 2021, law firms spent $6.8 billion advertising mass tort lawsuits to attract additional plaintiffs. The report estimated an annual loss to the U.S. economy from excessive tort costs at $472.88 billion in output. In certain states where tort costs are high, taxpayers bear the burden through "tort taxes". For instance, California taxpayers pay an annual tort tax of $2,119 - reportedly the highest in the nation.
According to the Pacific Trial Attorneys' website, its founder Scott Ferrell has secured multiple 8-figure judgments. His practice is primarily focused on website accessibility law. The website claims that Ferrell was the first lawyer in the country to secure a judgment that found a defendant liable for having a website inaccessible to people with disabilities.
JMBM, as per Lexology, is a law firm that specializes in labor and employment, bankruptcy, cybersecurity, real estate and land use, and intellectual property matters. Operating across Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Orange County, JMBM has been in business for over 35 years.