Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Federal Lawsuit Filed Against Broward County's BB&T Center for Denying Equal Access to Wheelchair Users

Fort Lauderdale, FL – Today, the Social Justice Law Collective (SJLC) announced the filing of a federal lawsuit against the BB&T Center, a sports and entertainment arena owned by and located in Broward County, Florida, for repeated violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.  The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Broward County residents Bradley and Susan Krause, alleges that the BB&T Center has repeatedly discriminated against wheelchair users in connection with the sale of accessible seating, and challenges the BB&T Center’s failure to adopt policies to ensure that wheelchair users and their companions have an equal opportunity to purchase tickets for accessible seating in the same manner and under the same conditions as all other ticket sales. 

Bradley Krause suffers from Inclusion Body Myositis, a rare neuromuscular disease that causes the progressive deterioration of muscles throughout the body and which has left Bradley completely dependent on a motorized wheelchair in order to ambulate.  While the degenerative nature of Bradley’s condition has severely restricted his ability to engage in many of the activities he once enjoyed, being able to attend concerts with his wife, Susan, is one of the few activities that has remained relatively unaffected.  That is, unless Bradley and Susan want to attend a concert at the BB&T Center.

In order to attend concerts at other arenas, Bradley and Susan typically need only go online and purchase accessible seats for the event, at the same time and in the same manner as anyone else.  For events at the BB&T Center, however, Bradley and Susan will often attempt to purchase tickets for an event only to find that very little – if any – accessible seating is available for purchase.  Instead, the BB&T Center requires that Bradley and Susan purchase their tickets through other methods, which often involve hours or days of research, telephone calls, emails, and messages.

Moreover, even when Bradley and Susan do manage to purchase accessible seating to an event at the BB&T Center, they have often attended those events only to find equipment stored in areas designated for wheelchair users or that areas of accessible seating that were not available for purchase remain empty or filled with individuals who do not require accessible seating.  “Concerts are one of the very few things I am still able to do in my declining health,” Bradley said when discussing the lawsuit, “it is unconscionable for the BB&T Center to have these events and hold that carrot out in front of me, only to then refuse to provide me with equal access to accessible seating.  I bring this lawsuit not just for myself and Susan, but for all wheelchair users and their companions.”


“The goal of this lawsuit is simply to ensure that wheelchair users and their companions have the same access to tickets to popular events as anyone else in society,” said SJLC attorney Josh Glickman, “there is simply no excuse for the BB&T Center – the largest indoor entertainment arena in the state of Florida – to continue to enforce such discriminatory and exclusionary policies.”

For further information please contact SJLC attorneys Josh Glickman or Shawn Heller at media@sjlawcollective.com.  


Visit SJLC's website here »
See the Press Release here »
Read the Complaint here »