Exclusive | ‘Avid Chinese chicken food enthusiast’ demands cash, ADA access to dozens of NYC restaurants in multiple lawsuits
They’re in a “fowl” mood.
Going clucking mad, a paraplegic man confined to a wheelchair and his attorney have made a business of suing various Queens businesses for alleged failures to provide handicap access to their establishments. And now, legal efforts aim for the paralyzed local to access a popular order of Chinese chicken.
Lesaldo Shalto, who appears to live in a chronic care facility on Roosevelt Island, has filed three dozen New York City federal lawsuits primarily against restaurants in Astoria and Long Island City since 2012.
In all the cases, filed in New York federal court in the Eastern District, Shalto cites violations of the American With Disabilities Act, the New York City Human Rights Law and the New York State Human Rights Law, according to the filings reviewed by The Post.
The ADA and local mandates make it clear that small businesses must give disabled New Yorkers the exact same access to goods and services as able-bodied customers. For years in New York State, these cases have been on the rise — and have even made the transition to website accessibility — as human rights laws allow plaintiffs to reap damages by adding city- and state-level claims in ADA suits.
Most recently, Shalto — described as an “avid Chinese chicken food enthusiast” in records — sued Astoria’s New Ho Wah Chinese Restaurant at 42-01-03 Broadway and the building’s owner for keeping him away from the centrally located hotspot “best known for its signature egg rolls and General Tso’s chicken (which Plaintiff loves chicken),” the suit says.
Claiming the joint violates the ADA and the city’s and state’s Human Rights Law, the poultry-loving plaintiff is heading to court to compel the eatery to make the space accessible to him and other disabled people — and pay an unspecified amount of compensatory damages.
The building’s owner, Fengyet Property, which could not be reached for comment, acquired the building in 2016 for $1.5 million, property records indicate.
New Ho Wah Chinese Restaurant did not respond to multiple requests for comment — and it isn’t clear if Shalto ever tried to enter.
Other businesses hit with ADA suits by Shalto told The Post they did not recall him trying to gain access to their shops.
“No one that fits [Shalto’s] characteristics has come into the store,” said an owner of an Astoria shop that Shalto is also suing for ADA violations.
“I do know they were never in our store,” the owner, who asked for anonymity, added. “Our customer service is second to none.”
Over time, Shalto has sued barbershops, coffee shops and restaurants including Seven Grams Caffé and Famous Pizza, both in Manhattan’s trendy Flatiron neighborhood.
Several cases have been settled, with the terms generally made unavailable.
Shalto won just under $21,000 in a case brought against the now-shuttered Astoria Provisions at 12-23 Astoria Blvd. in June 2025.
“He’s horrible — [Shalto] and his lawyer,” John Parlatore, owner of Astoria Provisions, told The Post. “All they do is target small businesses.”
Parlatore said he had a removable ADA-compliant ramp, but was told Shalto couldn’t safely navigate it.
“He said he doesn’t feel comfortable using it, that he needs a full concrete built-in ramp,” Parlatore said, noting that the restaurant served other wheelchair-bound patrons without issue.
The bathroom and the tables were ADA-compliant, he said, and the business added a flip-out annex to the bar.
Parlatore said he worked at the restaurant seven days a week and alleged Shalto “never came to that restaurant.” He added, “He for sure never came to my restaurant.”
In another case, Shalto settled in May 2025 with Chinese restaurant New East Garden at 31-10 36th Ave. in Long Island City. “Plaintiff was forced to order from the sidewalk each time he goes, which is frustrating,” court documents say.
At a since-closed restaurant at 29-14 36th Ave. in Long Island City, Shalto claimed in a 2012 suit that he was “denied access” to the premises, court documents indicate. In that case, a judge granted Shalto $1,988 in March 2013: $1,000 for compensatory damages for mental distress, $500 for statutory damages under the New York Civil Rights Law and $488 for filing and process server fees.
All but nine of Shalto’s lawsuits have been brought by Manhattan-based attorney Bradly Marks, who has a pattern of going after myriad businesses on behalf of individual clients.
Marks and lawyer brother Darren Marks are behind 113 federal lawsuits filed by wheelchair-bound Jocelyn Pierre against restaurants, pharmacies, clothing stores, and a charity in Brooklyn and Manhattan since 2018 for their alleged ADA failures. The plaintiff in those cases has received tens of thousands in settlements.
When asked why Shalto, who couldn’t be reached for comment, was filing so many lawsuits, Marks emailed: “As a firm policy, we do not comment on the specifics of active litigation. However, more than three decades after the Americans with Disabilities Act promised equal access, Mr. Shalto, a wheelchair user, is still denied the basic dignity of independently entering and equal use of public businesses within his own community, underscoring that for many Americans with Disabilities, equal access remains an unfulfilled civil right.”
At Milkflower at 34-12 31st Ave., Shalto settled this January with the eatery, which the lawsuit described as a “popular Italian restaurant in the heart of Astoria known for its authentic gourmet wood-fired pizzas.” The suit was filed on the grounds that Shalto was allegedly “denied access” to the restaurant.
“I think the approach of just the volume of these lawsuits and the way that they just go after small businesses is problematic,” Milkflower’s attorney Israel Klein said while speaking generally. “It’s just being used more as a sword against these businesses.”
The small businesses can’t afford a legal battle, he added, so even if they don’t think they are in the wrong, they often will settle, said Klein, who couldn’t speak about the Milkflower case.
