Page 9 - Sonoma County Gazette March 2017

OPINION: REBUTTAL to Villainizing the Victims
Ms. D’Lil: You make various assertions without identifying yourself. For transparency purposes, you ought to acknowledge you have been Mr. Skaff’s partner in many of the 100s of ADA lawsuits he has filed. You were on the board of his now-closed down foundation and were a co-plaintiff in the suit against the Sonoma (Infineon) Raceway in 2008 and represented by the same law firm now suing the roadhouse. How many other ADA lawsuits did you co- file with Mr. Skaff?
For complete transparency purposes, I will tell you, and the readers, that I am the mother of Brad Metzger, owner of the Rio Nido Roadhouse (renamed from the Rio Nido Bar). I sat in that courtroom for all the same hours that Mr. Skaff did, five hours a day for more than three weeks. I listened carefully to the testimony of every person on that stand and read all the depositions. Ms. D’Lil, you referred to the wrong witnesses, the wrong amount of money, and the wrong testimony about threats and intimidation.
Mr. Skaff was initially quite confused about the date he allegedly visited
the roadhouse, but he did testify that he sat idling his van in the lot for no
more than three minutes. He announced to Mr. Metzger in their initial phone conversation that he wasn’t calling to file a “drive-by lawsuit,” a term Mr. Metzger had never encountered. Mr. Skaff told the court he wanted to enjoy
a meal and listen to the live music that night of October 18, 2012 like he had decades ago. No restaurant existed there until our son put one in. There is never live music at the roadhouse on a Thursday evening when Mr. Skaff claimed he was there. There was no sign on the road advertising music, as he claimed.
Also, there had been a ramp leading up to the pool and a disabled parking sign on a pole at the base of that ramp for years. No disabled customer of the roadhouse ever complained to Mr. Metzger since he bought the place in 2007 that they’d encountered a barrier. The night of Mr. Skaff’s alleged visit, the
parking lot was full, and another car was parked in the disabled space. Mr. Skaff acknowledged he never called in
This is the disabled parking and ramp built in 2014, after Mr. Skaff’s lawsuit was started, which lasted four years. Mr. Metzger obtained a 45” easement into the front parking lot from property owner, Mr. Judd, and permission from the county for it to extend to the road.
Yet, he seems to have a deal with
the Garden Grill in Guerneville whereby he calls ahead to the staff to inform them he’ll be arriving. He then parks at the business next door in a disabled space (because the Garden Grill has no ADA parking), travels
behind a row of parked cars along a busy road, and then has a staff person from the Garden
to the roadhouse
to request help or information about other possible access.
in his wheelchair
Grill haul him backwards in his wheelchair up the very steep and rough ramp into the restaurant. He testified to the foregoing.
You should know that as soon as Mr. Metzger purchased the roadhouse, he had an AIA architect design a kitchen plus two ADA parking spaces for the front lot that Mr. Metzger hoped to own at some point. Mr. Metzger’s business ran in the red for seven years and he had a hardship designation; building the two ADA parking spaces and ramp was neither financially possible nor readily achievable. Mr. Metzger never owned the front parking lot where the two ADA parking spaces were intended to go, nor after the first year of operation did he own, operate or control that lot. It was not for lack of trying.
You can quote all the regulations you want and rant against PD reporter Paul Payne’s article, but readers ought to view this segment on 60 Minutes about drive-by and Google-earth lawsuits: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=1Xjq9xWnwT0. It’s eerily familiar. Who’s the victim?
Sandy Metzger
3/17 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 9
PHOTO: Google® Streetview of disabled ramp/parking while it was still under construction