Posted on 07/27/2010 5:51:36 PM PDT by Kaslin
Overregulation: Leave it to California's 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to mark the 20th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) with another of its goofy, ripe-for-recision rulings.
This one involves the counter height at a couple of Chipotle Mexican Grills in San Diego. Seems the 45-inch walls between customers and the food-preparation areas prevent people in wheelchairs from "fully participating in the selection and preparation of their order," as Judge Daniel Friedman put it.
In short, Friedman wrote for the court, the wall "significantly reduced" the "ability to enjoy the Chipotle experience."
We won't argue that "the Chipotle experience" isn't worth fully taking in. The Denver-based chain is the country's most successful publicly held restaurant operator, and it's hard to argue with success. But the two outlets in question tried to accommodate disabled persons by providing alternatives, such as showing a customer a sample of food in a spoon or assembling meals elsewhere.
That's what the lower court found. But the 9th Circuit the nation's most overturned appeals court wasn't impressed. The law's the law, and the ADA requires that disabled customers be provided with an experience "equivalent" to what nondisabled customers enjoy in watching the assembly of their burritos and tacos.
Here's yet another example of a law and a court that continues to exact a toll on businesses large and small. (Other recent ADA-based rulings, according to a Cato Institute review, include a $400,000 judgment against a New Jersey doctor for not providing a sign language interpreter for a deaf patient. )
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
Boy. Who knew there was a Constitutional right to “enjoy the Chipotle experience”?
Madness
All small business owners experience this
Just before they quit.
GET YOUR @#$@#$ 2#$@#$@# HANDS OFF MY FAJITA BURRITO!
I’m kinda surprised that everyone doesn’t have to
sit in wheelchairs in public,
just to make it fair.
Or, maybe it would good, to, to require that at
least 50% of judges have an IQ above 99,
just to make it fair.
These people are idiots. And I’m a wheelchair bound taco lover. Sheesh. Enough is enough!
I’m kinda drawn on this. I like Chipotle. A lot, and eat there accordingly. Of the 4 or 5 in my area where I am a patron there can be a heck of a lot of variance in how much of each item I select the preparer puts into the burrito. Some get it just right, but at others I need to constantly tell them “a little more chicken (or barbacoa)” or “more cheese”. There’s one where I ALWAYS have to tell them (and tell them emphatically) two or three times that I don’t want either type of beans just as they’re about to dump a spoonful into the tortilla.
Since Chipotle has based its serving model around customer participation in the process, I can certainly see how not being able to fully observe the quantities being put into the burrito would put some people at a disadvantage in being able to make sure that their burrito is “right”.
However, having said that, I’d be interested in knowing how they accommodate people who are blind. I’d guess that in that circumstance the “reasonable accommodation” standard would be a bit different than for people in wheelchairs.
First there was the handicapped parking. Now restaurants are going to have to have a handicapped parking zone at the order counter. Who would have thought????
And now matter how long the line might be the person in the wheelchair who walks in (LOL!) gets priority to make an order over the ones already standing in line who are privileged with legs. It’s only fair!!!!
Come on! Just take the guilt trip and step aside.
In short,
How insensitive! < /sarc>
What despicable trash from a lard ass bureaucrat trying to justify her place supping at the public trough
CHIPOTLE--- My elderly father loved this place so a few times I took him there and he used a walker to get in. He was unable to navigate the food ordering. I did that for him and myself. He took his time eating thus drank in and fully "experienced" the place. We both got a kick out of all the stainless steel used and visible ductwork above since my father was in metal fabrication. America was great when we made our own steel and my father often enough visited PA and West VA mills that supplied his business. Industrial chic looking describes Chipotle Grill
One time a young manager brought over (gratis) some of their corn chips. My disabled (only due to age) father liked that
yeah??? well the Chipotle experience, INCLUDES the wall!!!
I work with people in wheelchairs, and all they usually want is the ability to access the restroom and have a place to sit at a table just like anyone else.
Sometimes, they do have to be reminded that we want equal rights, not special rights. Restrooms and integration have to do with dignity; expecting a business to cater to every single desire is not the aim of the ADA.
They get their food, for crying out loud! It’s not like they’re saying, “Sorry, you have to be taller than the counter to eat!”
‘Im a wheelchair bound taco lover.’
Me too. If the government can waste time and money on this nonsense it is way too big. Of course we already knew that.
‘Born 1916 in New York City, NY’
NINETY-FOUR YEARS OLD!!!! Isn’t it time for him to completely retire?!?
More of Cloward-Piven: they’re not here to fix the system, they’re here to break it.
Put a mirror on the ceiling above the prep area, and STFU!
BTW, despite wiki's attempt to diminish this story as "satirical", it is as deadly in its aim as "Atlas Shrugged", and just as relevant. This is a must read for all true conservatives.
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