LOS ANGELES - The attorney who recently sued the Angels baseball team over a Mother's Day giveaway has filed more than 40 legal challenges against promotions that targeted groups including women and young families.
Alfred Rava of San Diego filed a sex and age discrimination lawsuit against the Angels on behalf of a man who was denied a red nylon tote bag during a Mother's Day promotion in 2005.
Rava also has sued the San Diego Padres and the Oakland Athletics over Mother's Day promotions, bars for offering cheap drinks and reduced admissions on "ladies nights," and the San Diego City Ballet for offering cut-rate tickets to young families, the Los Angeles Times reported.
In interviews and e-mails, Rava referred to the baseball team giveaways as "sex discrimination on steroids" and compared them to "having an Easter Day promotion and giving chocolate Easter bunnies to everybody except Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims."
He has sued under California's Unruh Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical conditions, marital status and sexual orientation.
Some attorneys claim Rava is misusing the act by filing nuisance lawsuits and then seeking financial settlements out of court. In one 2003 settlement, seven San Diego bar owners agreed to pay him $125,000.
"In my view, he's abusing the Unruh Act," said attorney Evelyn Heidelburg, who successfully defended San Diego's City Ballet against Rava's 2005 lawsuit. "I was glad to be able to stop him down here."
David Cruz, a University of Southern California law professor, said the act doesn't specifically address giveaways, so a court would have to determine whether a gender-specific promotion is illegal.
Rava has got the attention of Major League Baseball; the Angels, the A's and the Padres all changed their promotions after he sued them.
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