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The Sacramento Bee

August 21, 2009

Squeeze Inn will move, even as disability suit is dropped

By Bill Lindelof

A lawsuit filed by a disabled woman against the Squeeze Inn, the tiny Sacramento eatery with big burgers and a bigger following, has been dropped – but that won't stop the burger joint's owner from moving.

"We have to move to another place because there is nothing to prevent us from being sued in the future," Squeeze Inn owner Travis Hausauer said Thursday. He said the new location also would accommodate more diners.

A document filed with the U.S. District Court in Sacramento this week said the action by Kimberly Block against the restaurant has been dropped in its entirety.

Dropping the suit would allow Hausauer to keep his restaurant at its longtime location at 7918 Fruitridge Rd., but he said he is moving to a nearby spot on Power Inn Road.

"If you had a good arm, you could hit the new location with a rock from the place where we are now," said Hausauer.

Efforts to reach Block were unsuccessful, and a representative for her Eureka attorney, Jason K. Singleton, said he declined to comment.

The Sacramento lawyer representing the Squeeze Inn, Michael D. Welch, said no payment was made to settle the suit.

Block's suit alleged that parking and the main entrance at the Squeeze Inn are not accessible to disabled people. It also charged that the inside seating area, which has room for 11 counter stools, does not have accessible tables, and the outside seating area is hard to navigate.

Welch represented Hausauer without charge.

"I got him out of the case in 10 days and it didn't cost him anything," Welch said. "I walk around with a hamburger halo."

With the suit dropped, Hausauer has given Welch a Squeeze Inn T-shirt and promised the lawyer free burgers for life.

The burger joint has been popular for years, and its renown grew when the restaurant was featured on the Food Network. At lunch, the line of prospective customers snakes out the door of the 450-square-foot orange building with bright red trim.

The increase in business put more pressure on the limited space and heightened the need for more parking.

The suit against the Squeeze Inn was the fourth since January that Block and her lawyers have filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento under the Americans With Disabilities Act.