A gubernatorial appointee who had filed dozens of federal disability lawsuits against area businesses has resigned from the state board she chaired and dropped many of the cases.
Mellisa Umphenour said she resigned March 20 as chairperson of the Colorado Developmental Disabilities Council because she lacked the time to handle a variety of commitments — not from any firestorm she faced for filing 64 lawsuits in just over two months against businesses that allegedly failed to comply with laws to accommodate the disabled.
Her resignation email to council director Marcia Tewell said it was due “to personal family concerns.” Umphenour later told The Denver Post that she’d taken on too many responsibilities.
“At this time I am unable to honor my commitments to the council while trying to work full-time and educate my son, so it was in the best interest of the council that I resign, allowing someone else to step into the role who is able to dedicate the time to moving the council forward with its important work,” Umphenour wrote The Denver Post in an email April 7.
“Despite what others may think, my resignation has nothing to do with my ADA cases or any other reason other than my family situation,” she wrote, noting she had discussed the matter for a few weeks with other council members.
Umphenour’s 11-year-old son is disabled and requires the use of a service dog.
Often called “drive-by lawsuits,” the legal actions rely on the Americans with Disabilities Act and often are filed by disabled people or their caretakers. Each lawsuit typically alleges a range of ADA violations such as the height of a bathroom mirror, the location or wording of handicapped-accessible parking signs, or the placement of toilet-paper holders.
Federal court records show Umphenour has since dismissed nearly all of the cases — and settled eight of them for undisclosed terms. Those that were dismissed outright show no reason or cause for the dismissal. Three others are ongoing, including one against an Arvada pizza shop.
Umphenour said the businesses, most of them across Arvada where she lives, had complied by fixing the problems alleged in the lawsuits.
But other businesses fought back, saying the claims were little more than efforts to extort money in return for a dismissal. Some businesses said they had fixed the problems after the suit was filed and before any court hearing was necessary and, as such, could not be held liable any longer. In those instances, attorneys for the businesses wanted Umphenour to pay their legal costs for having been sued.
Pizza shop owners Raffaele Aiello and his wife, Carmela, hired a lawyer who pointed out inconsistencies in the evidence Umphenour offered in her complaint: She said she visited on a Sunday, when it was actually closed; she said there was snow on the ground when photos showed no snow; and poorly labeled handicapped parking was actually parking for to-go customers. The family wants its attorney fees paid.
“An ADA compliance expert (was hired) to inspect the premises and provide a report of violations, of which there were none,” the Aiellos said in court papers.
Umphenour’s attorney, James Carr, had recently set up shop in Colorado as ADA Justice Advocates at an address that is a UPS Store in Boulder.
Umphenour, 37, was in her third year on the disabilities council, after her appointment by Gov. John Hickenlooper. Court documents show Umphenour is a registered home health care worker for Right At Home in Centennial and is a criminal justice graduate of Metropolitan State University in Denver.
Although court papers show she drives a 4-year-old SUV and earns about $4,000 a month, she said she was too poor to afford the costs of filing the lawsuits in federal court. Some judges agreed, but one did not.
“This case does not involve requiring a destitute plaintiff to pay a filing fee that she cannot afford,” U.S. District Judge Raymond Moore ruled in February, citing discrepancies and questions in Umphenour’s income streams. “Instead, plaintiff’s monthly income (both explained and unexplained) sufficiently shows that she is able to pay the filing fee in this case.”
Moore dismissed the lawsuit as a result.
Forty-three federal ADA lawsuits filed by a Colorado Springs man remain open, records show.
