The Supreme Court dodged a ruling on whether a disability rights activist can sue hotels for not disclosing accessibility information if she actually does not have plans to stay there, deciding on Tuesday that the case was moot because the activist has since dropped her lawsuit, NBC News reported.
The case, involving disability rights campaigner Deborah Laufer, could have diminished the ability of "testers" to bring lawsuits in order to benefit the disabled community by ensuring that hotels comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which attempts to shield individuals with disabilities from discrimination in public accommodations and a number of other settings.
The court was considering an appeal brought by Acheson Hotels, which operated the Coast Village Inn and Cottages in Maine when the lawsuit was filed. The hotel's lawyers argued that Laufer did not have legal standing to bring the case because she had no intention of staying at the hotel and she failed to show that she suffered an injury, which is a requirement needed to establish standing.
In addition, the hotel later posted the accessibility information during the time that the suit made its way through the lower courts, CNN reported.
The Supreme Court justices chose not to decide the issue despite Acheson's concerns that Laufer's legal team was attempting to evade what might have been an unfavorable ruling, according to NBC News.
"We are sensitive to Acheson's concern about litigants manipulating the jurisdiction of this court," wrote Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who authored the court's opinion. "We are not convinced, however, that Laufer abandoned her case in an effort to evade our review."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.