(FORTUNE Small Business) – The last company you'd expect to see sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act is the Yoga & Inner Peace studio in Lake Worth, Fla. Owner Bharata offers free courses for the disabled and has set aside two parking spaces for them. But he missed a few details, like the width of aisles between parking spaces. That made him vulnerable to a group of South Florida lawyers who have filed 600 lawsuits, mainly against small companies--not just on big violations, but on the nitty-gritty details of access. The ADA doesn't allow damage awards, but the lawyers have an angle: Defendants who lose must pay plaintiffs' legal fees. Critics like U.S. Rep. Mark Foley of Palm Beach call this "extortion." He wants to amend the ADA to give companies a 90-day grace period to fix violations before they can be sued. But lawyer Robert Bogdan, who has filed 40 lawsuits for an advocacy group, says this is no scam. The law is ten years old, and his clients want it enforced, he argues. Even Bharata is torn. ADA does good, he says, but this is "damaging a lot of poor businesses."

--EDWARD ROBINSON