United States v. Wales West, LLC, Complaint, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama, U.S. Department of Justice

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed this complaint on behalf of a family that was denied services at a campground in violation of title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The complaint alleges that the campground manager barred the family’s two-year-old son from using the showers and pool at the campground because he was HIV-positive and, as a result, effectively evicted the family from the campground. According to the complaint, the ADA violations committed by the campground include, in part, denying the family an opportunity to use the campground, failing to provide the family with an opportunity to use the campground facilities in a manner equal to that afforded to others, providing services that are unequal to or separate from services provided to others, creating and enforcing policies based on discriminatory beliefs and using those policies to prevent people with disabilities from using the campground facilities, failing to make reasonable modifications to policies in order to avoid discriminatory action, and otherwise excluding the family based on their relationship with a disabled person. The complaint seeks monetary damages for the family and asks the court to order the campground not to discriminate against others on the basis of their disability. The DOJ also requests that a civil penalty be assessed against the campground. Civil penalties, which are paid to the United States, can be as much as $50,000 for the first ADA violation, and up to $100,000 for each subsequent violation in this case.