Exclusive | Wheelchair-bound Brooklyn man received tens of thousands in settlements through alleged shakedown lawsuits over access
A paraplegic man formerly living in NYCHA housing now has a swanky apartment and allegedly bought a Mercedes thanks to cash from settlements in lawsuits defendants claim amount to a citywide “shakedown.”Wheelchair-bound Jocelyn Pierre has filed 113 federal lawsuits against restaurants, pharmacies, clothing stores and even a charity in Brooklyn and Manhattan since 2018 for their alleged failure to provide handicap access to their establishments.In each case he cites the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), according to the filings reviewed by The Post.Once the lawsuits are filed, his lawyers move in and offer to settle if the businesses pay thousands of dollars, according to those who have received them.All of Pierre’s lawsuits have been brought by Manhattan-based attorneys Bradly and Darren Marks and have targeted everyone from high-end clothing store Paul Stuart on Madison Avenue and a Duane Reade to Electric Lotus Tattoo, a tattoo studio in Fort Greene.Lucali, the famed pizza restaurant in Carroll Gardens which is a favorite of celebrities including Taylor Swift, David Beckham and Beyonce and Jay-Z, was also sued.The pizza joint is one of the few to fight back through the courts — most cases are settled and 35 are ongoing, according to court records.Lucali have filed a lawsuit in response to the federal case against Pierre and his lawyers, who are brothers, in which they blasted the “malicious prosecution” and “fraudulent action” against the buzzy pizza parlor.“In order to justify his absurd requests for attorney’s fees, the defendant lawyer uses and abuses the disabled defendant Pierre to pretend that he enters every single New York City restaurant on a random block so that he can recover for ‘lack of ADA compliance’ and makes sure to ask these restaurants for his own exorbitant attorney’s fees,” Lucali alleged in a lawsuit filed last month in Brooklyn State Supreme Court.According to the original claim Pierre had filed agai...