Where once there were only stairs near the Starbucks at the West Village, now there’s a wheelchair ramp. Where once the Taco Diner patio took up the entire walkway, now there’s a path.

But four years after three disabled customers sued the chic shopping center in federal court, West Village is still not complying fully with a court-ordered consent decree to improve accessibility.

Renovations were made to the retail side of the shopping center, in the Uptown area of Dallas. But changes to the apartments have stalled as developers and property owners argue about whether all the fixes need to be made and who will pay for them.

The complex of lofts, trendy restaurants and clothing boutiques has become ingrained as Dallas’ yuppie mecca in recent years, and West Village has just finished an expansion across Blackburn Street and McKinney Avenue.

West Village Limited Partnership, which owns the complex, entered into the consent decree with the disabled customers in September 2004. It added handicapped parking spaces, lowered steep ramps and installed handrails. It also agreed to modify the apartments above the shops.

But three months before signing the consent decree, West Village sold the lofts to CWS Apartment Homes, which runs the Marquis brand of apartments. CWS contends that it never had a chance to make its case and shouldn’t have to abide by the settlement. It is now appealing to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

CWS blames West Village for signing the consent decree without its approval, but West Village says CWS was well aware of the terms of the agreement.

Apartments unchanged

As a result of the legal tussle, four years later, many apartments remain inaccessible to people in wheelchairs, according to the court-appointed inspector. Bathroom doors are too narrow, thermostats are too high and there’s not enough space in the kitchens.

The developers built a complex that is impossible for people in wheelchairs to live in, said Tricia La Bar, a paraplegic who sued after she tried to rent an apartment.

“It’s no different than saying, ‘Because you’re Indian, because you’re a woman, you can’t rent here,’ ” she said.

Ms. La Bar – who uses a yellow wheelchair with chrome rims to match her yellow Corvette – said she loves West Village, goes there all the time and is well known among shop owners. She’d like to live there but found it too difficult to get around the apartments.

A horseback riding accident in 1992 left the 49-year-old Uptown resident paralyzed from the belly-button down. She aggressively competes in wheelchair sports – even breaking her arms a few times – and has made it her mission to educate people that life doesn’t have to stop just because someone is in a wheelchair.

In the last 10 years, Ms. La Bar has filed Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuits against the Addison Circle development, Cafe Brazil, Culpepper Cattle & Catering Co., El Chico, Plantation Homes in Rowlett and Snuffers. Most cases settled before trial, but she obtained a similar consent decree in the Addison Circle case.

She hasn’t made any money from the lawsuits, she said, and her only benefit is getting people to comply.

Even some able-bodied customers say that while they love West Village’s urban feel, the tight and sometimes crowded sidewalks can make it difficult to get around.

“It’s just too narrow,” said Perla Weatherford as she walked on the path Thursday between the garage and Taco Diner. “It’s ridiculous sometimes how crowded it gets.”

Lawsuit’s path

The West Village lawsuit was filed in February 2003 after three wheelchair users complained they couldn’t find parking spaces or get up ramps and had to dangerously travel behind parked cars to get to stores.

West Village’s developers said the problems were an unintentional oversight by the architect and construction firm, and they vowed to fix the problems. They settled with the architect and have filed cross-claims against DalMac Construction, which are pending.

“Everything that’s been identified as a requirement, we have agreed to do and we will do,” said West Village’s lawyer, Ed Cloutman.

In September 2004, West Village agreed to the consent decree and spent $150,000 to renovate the retail part. But a year later, no work had been done on the apartments. And when pressed by the plaintiffs, West Village said it had sold the apartments to CWS.

The plaintiffs added CWS to the lawsuit in June 2006. While CWS says it knew about the lawsuit before buying the apartments, it argues that West Village “completely ignored its obligation” to get CWS’ approval before signing the consent decree.

“CWS is a good corporate citizen,” said the company’s lawyer, Richard Hunt. “It believes in making all of its properties compliant with the ADA. But we don’t want to be bound by an agreement in which we weren’t a party and which we had no say in.”

“It would be like your next door neighbor calling you up and saying, ‘We had a dispute with the city,’ and then they come back to you and say, ‘We’ve agreed that you’ll tear down your house.’ ”

But Mr. Cloutman said the developers made every effort to keep CWS in the loop by sending its attorneys drafts of the consent decree, including the one that was ultimately approved.

“We disclosed everything,” he said. “I don’t know what more we could have done.”

E-mail communications

The dispute may be the result of miscommunication over e-mail.

CWS’ contract to buy the property specified that West Village wouldn’t enter into any agreement or settlement that would result in adverse changes to the apartments.

On Aug. 4, 2004, Mr. Cloutman sent an e-mail to CWS’ lawyers that West Village planned to settle the case at an upcoming meeting: “There may be, although this is entirely uncertain, need to modify access in some of the residential units. Our proposal will be to inspect vacant units for access issues and to modify any non-compliant apartment units.”

CWS lawyer Aaftab Esmail responded: “Although we have no general objection to the process you have outlined as set forth in my previous e-mail to you, my client has the right to approve any adverse changes.”

The e-mail traffic seems to have ended there.

U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis agreed with West Village and the plaintiffs in December. He ruled that CWS should have found out the terms of the consent decree and objected if it didn’t agree with them.

“CWS’ lack of interest in following this case and its lack of participation at every stage of the litigation strongly suggests that CWS intended West Village to act as its virtual representative,” Judge Solis said.

The case is now pending in the appeals court, and a ruling is expected later this year or early next year.

information from : www.dallasnews.com

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