Judge Tosses Blind Lawyer’s Suit Claiming Prostitute Overcharged His Credit Card
John Peoples, a 60-year-old blind Pennsylvania lawyer, claims he was victimized twice when a Philadelphia prostitute overcharged him by $8,600.
According to Peoples’ lawsuit, the woman he hired through an escort services website overbilled him on 11 different occasions, overcharging $8,600 in all, the Philadelphia Daily News reports. The suit alleges Peoples was also a victim of disabilities discrimination because his credit card company didn’t have enough protections in place for blind customers.
The woman Peoples hired, Ginger Dayle, has a different version of events, according to the story. She claimed Peoples hired her for Pilates lessons, she never overbilled him, and he had touched her inappropriately during the sessions.
A federal judge dismissed Peoples’ lawsuit and Dayle’s counterclaim in an opinion (PDF) issued last week. U.S. District Judge Edmund Ludwig said Peoples couldn’t recover the disputed charges against Discover Card because they were for an illegal transaction, and Discover Card was not subject to the Americans With Disabilities Act because it wasn’t a place of public accommodation.
Since Peoples’ federal suit was tossed, Ludwig said he did not have jurisdiction to hear Dayle’s counterclaim.
Peoples told the Daily News he plans to appeal. “I don’t think the people who designed the ADA and put it into words expected credit-card companies not to help us,” he said. “This denies the blind access to credit cards. If you can be cheated, then you can’t use credit cards.”
