This is the attorney who filed lawsuits and tried to close the Jointed Cue.
Here is what happened to him.
NEWS
Scott Norris Johnson faces 18 months of home confinement for concealing income from his ADA lawsuit settlements.
November 29, 2022 at 06:46 PM
3 minute read
Tax
Cheryl Miller
Scott Norris Johnson, a Carmichael attorney who has filed thousands of disability-access lawsuits across California, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Sacramento federal court to submitting a false tax return.
According to a plea agreement filed in the U.S. District Court for California’s Eastern District, Johnson reported total income in 2012 of $36,369 when bank deposits showed he received lawsuit settlement payments of more than $1.3 million. Such payments must be reported as income to the Internal Revenue Service.
As part of the plea deal, prosecutors and Johnson agreed that he will serve 18 months of home confinement and one year of supervised release, and pay $250,000 in restitution.
Johnson’s attorney, Malcolm Segal of Segal & Associates, said the plea agreement is a response to the tax law violation, not Johnson’s Americans With Disabilities Act litigation
Prosecutors “have not questioned the appropriateness of the ADA lawsuits or the success of those lawsuits,” Segal said.
Johnson, a quadriplegic who uses a motorized wheelchair, is well known in the Northern California business community for suing retailers for alleged violations of the federal disability-access law. His complaint letters frequently arrive in flurries at numerous businesses in a single town or neighborhood, leaving owners to settle or risk likely higher costs of litigating his allegations.
While chambers of commerce track Johnson’s moves and retailers accuse him of suing without ever visiting their businesses, some disability rights advocates say his private enforcement is key to making disability access laws work. Johnson has not been publicly disciplined by the state bar, although a consumer alert on its website notes the charges filed against him by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Johnson and his corporation, Disabled Access Prevents Injuries Inc., filed approximately 4,000 lawsuits in California’s Eastern and Northern district courts under the ADA and related California laws between 2003 and April 2020, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He has also worked with the San Diego firm of Potter Handy.
In April, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria, citing new scrutiny of such litigation, imposed additional evidentiary requirements in dozens of ADA suits brought by Potter Handy, including some involving Johnson as a plaintiff.
Johnson was formerly a district counsel at the IRS in the 1990s and “was aware” that settlement payments received for ADA violations had to be reported to taxing authorities, the U.S. Attorney’s Office wrote in the plea agreement.
Federal prosecutors said Johnson’s failure to report income cost the IRS more than $250,000 over a three-year span.
Johnson is scheduled to be sentenced on March 7, 2023.
Here is what happened to him.
NEWS
Lawyer Pleads Guilty to Hiding Income From ADA Lawsuit Settlements
Scott Norris Johnson faces 18 months of home confinement for concealing income from his ADA lawsuit settlements.
November 29, 2022 at 06:46 PM
3 minute read
Tax
Cheryl Miller
Scott Norris Johnson, a Carmichael attorney who has filed thousands of disability-access lawsuits across California, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Sacramento federal court to submitting a false tax return.
According to a plea agreement filed in the U.S. District Court for California’s Eastern District, Johnson reported total income in 2012 of $36,369 when bank deposits showed he received lawsuit settlement payments of more than $1.3 million. Such payments must be reported as income to the Internal Revenue Service.
As part of the plea deal, prosecutors and Johnson agreed that he will serve 18 months of home confinement and one year of supervised release, and pay $250,000 in restitution.
Johnson’s attorney, Malcolm Segal of Segal & Associates, said the plea agreement is a response to the tax law violation, not Johnson’s Americans With Disabilities Act litigation
Prosecutors “have not questioned the appropriateness of the ADA lawsuits or the success of those lawsuits,” Segal said.
Johnson, a quadriplegic who uses a motorized wheelchair, is well known in the Northern California business community for suing retailers for alleged violations of the federal disability-access law. His complaint letters frequently arrive in flurries at numerous businesses in a single town or neighborhood, leaving owners to settle or risk likely higher costs of litigating his allegations.
While chambers of commerce track Johnson’s moves and retailers accuse him of suing without ever visiting their businesses, some disability rights advocates say his private enforcement is key to making disability access laws work. Johnson has not been publicly disciplined by the state bar, although a consumer alert on its website notes the charges filed against him by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Johnson and his corporation, Disabled Access Prevents Injuries Inc., filed approximately 4,000 lawsuits in California’s Eastern and Northern district courts under the ADA and related California laws between 2003 and April 2020, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He has also worked with the San Diego firm of Potter Handy.
In April, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria, citing new scrutiny of such litigation, imposed additional evidentiary requirements in dozens of ADA suits brought by Potter Handy, including some involving Johnson as a plaintiff.
Johnson was formerly a district counsel at the IRS in the 1990s and “was aware” that settlement payments received for ADA violations had to be reported to taxing authorities, the U.S. Attorney’s Office wrote in the plea agreement.
Federal prosecutors said Johnson’s failure to report income cost the IRS more than $250,000 over a three-year span.
Johnson is scheduled to be sentenced on March 7, 2023.
