Disabled-rights group sues 2 businesses

The Disabled Rights Action Committee on Thursday filed federal lawsuits against two Salt Lake County businesses they say do not properly accommodate people with disabilities.

The suits target Sandy's Life Centre Athletic Club, 9844 S. 1300 East, and a Sugar House Sizzler restaurant, 2111 S. 1300 East.

The committee joined forces with Utah residents who feel the businesses discriminated against them by not complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

A member of the Life Centre Athletic Club alerted committee director Barbara Toomer of violations at the club that prohibit him from using the swimming pool and free weights, which are on the bottom floor of the gym with no elevator access. The man suffers from multiple sclerosis and often uses a wheelchair.

General manager T.J. Buxton does not recall this specific situation but said it is possible to access the lower level of the club from outside the facility. The member would need to ask an employee to open the door from the inside and then travel down a grassy hill on the property, he said.

In the second lawsuit, another disabled Utah resident who visited Sizzler for dinner with friends spilled her drink in her lap because of inadequate table space. The woman attempted to enter the women's restroom to clean up but was unable to maneuver her wheelchair through the door.

The woman contacted the Disabled Rights Action Committee, which had contacted Sizzling Platter Inc., Sizzler's owners, in October 1997 about compliance problems in other restaurants, the suit states.

Steve Lowe, a Sizzling Platter partner and general counsel for the company, does not recall the reported letter and said his company does everything it can to accommodate its disabled customers.

However, he said, the Sugar House Sizzler was built in 1964 — nearly 30 years before the passage of the ADA — and it is impractical to fix the restrooms short of tearing down the entire building and starting over.

"This one bathroom in this one restaurant is very problematic and there's not a reasonable way to fix this," Lowe said. "We operate 33 restaurants in five states, and in every one of those we've gone to considerable expense and have done everything we can in design and layout to make sure that our restrooms are accessible and comfortably accommodate people with disabilities."

Both lawsuits request the court order the businesses to come into full ADA compliance and fix the specific problems in the suit.

"It boils down to this: The federal government, in its wisdom, said that people with disabilities have the same rights as other people in this nation," Toomer said. "It takes a tremendous educational effort to educate the entire nation that we have the same civil rights as we did when we were walking around with two feet."

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E-mail: awelling@desnews.com