Acosta v. All American Glass, Inc.

District Court, E.D. California·Decided August 18, 2025·No. 1:25-cv-00240·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10 11 JOSE ACOSTA, Case No. 1:25-cv-00240 JLT SAB 12 Plaintiff, ORDER ADOPTING IN PART THE FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS, 13 v. GRANTING IN PART PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR DEFAULT JUDGMENT, 14 ALL AMERICAN GLASS, INC., et al., DISMISSING PLAINTIFF’S STATE LAW CLAIMS WITHOUT PREJUDICE, AND 15 Defendants. DIRECTING THE CLERK OF COURT TO CLOSE THE CASE 16 (Docs. 10, 14) 17 18 Jose Acosta seeks default judgment against the defendants—All American Glass, Inc. and 19 Laura M. Williams, Trustee of the Donald A. Williams Exemption Trust—for violating the 20 Americans with Disabilities Act and California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act.1 (Doc. 10.) For the 21 reasons set forth below, the motion for default judgment is granted in part. The Court finds 22 default judgment is appropriate for the claim arising under the ADA but declines to exercise 23 supplemental jurisdiction and dismisses the claims arising under state law without prejudice. 24 I. Relevant Background 25 Plaintiff reports he “is substantially limited in his ability to walk, and must use a 26 wheelchair for mobility.” (Doc. 1 at 2, ¶ 8.) He asserts he visited All American Glass “to 27 1 Plaintiff’s complaint includes a claim for denial of full and equal access to public facilities under California Health 28 & Safety Code §§ 19955, 19959. (Doc. 1 at 8.) However, he does not seek default judgment on this claim. 1 purchase a new windshield” on August 12, 2024. (Id., ¶ 10.) Plaintiff alleges he “personally 2 encountered barriers (both physical and intangible)” at All American Glass that interfered with 3 his ability to use and enjoy the goods and services. (Id. at 2-3, ¶ 10.) Specifically, Plaintiff 4 identified the following architectural barriers:

5 a) Plaintiff could not locate a designated accessible parking stall in the Facility’s parking lot, and had to park in a standard parking 6 stall that lacked a designated access aisle, which he requires in order to ensure sufficient clear space next to his vehicle to load and 7 unload.

8 b) The path of travel to the Facility entrance was obstructed by parked vehicles, as the parking stalls lacked wheel stops. Plaintiff 9 had difficulty travelling between the parked vehicles to get to and from the Facility entrance. When Plaintiff came back to pick up his 10 vehicle, he could not get to the door because of the lack of clearances and had to send his wife inside to pick up the keys and 11 paperwork.

12 c) The aisles inside the Facility were too narrow for Plaintiff’s wheelchair to fit through, so he could not navigate around the 13 store. Plaintiff had to ask the cashier to get a soda for him because he could not fit down the aisle to reach it. 14 c) The transaction counter was too high, which made it difficult for 15 Plaintiff to converse with the staff and handle his transaction. 16 (Id. at 3, ¶ 10.) 17 Plaintiff reports that he “lives less than fifteen miles” from All American Glass, and he 18 “was, and continues to be, deterred from visiting” the location because he knows the “goods, 19 services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations were and are unavailable to [him] 20 due to [his] physical disabilities.” (Id. at 2-3, ¶¶ 10, 12.) Plaintiff asserts that he will return to All 21 American Glass “once the barriers are removed” because he “enjoys the goods and services 22 offered.” (Id. at 3, ¶ 12.) 23 On February 24, 2025, Plaintiff initiated this action by filing a complaint against the 24 defendants alleging: (1) violations of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, (2) violation 25 of California’s Unruh Act, and (3) denial of full and equal access to public facilities under 26 California’s Health and Safety Code. (Doc. 1 at 4-8.) Plaintiff asserts that the defendants 27 “possessed and enjoyed sufficient control and authority” to remove the barriers and ensure All 28 American Glass complied with the 1991 ADA Accessibility Guidelines and/or the 2010 ADA 1 Standards for Accessible Design. (Id. at 4, ¶ 14.) In addition, Plaintiff contends the defendants 2 have “the financial resources to remove the[] barriers … without much difficulty or expense[], 3 and make the Facility accessible to the physically disabled.” (Id., ¶ 13.) 4 Plaintiff served the defendants with the summons and complaint. (Docs. 4, 5.) After the 5 defendants failed to respond to the complaint, Plaintiff requested the Court enter default. (Doc. 6 6.) The Clerk of Court entered default on April 10, 2025. (Docs. 7, 8.) Plaintiff now seeks 7 default judgment, including injunctive and declaratory relief; statutory damages under the Unruh 8 Act; attorneys’ fees; and costs. (Doc. 10.) 9 II. Findings and Recommendations 10 The magistrate judge evaluated the factors set forth by the Ninth Circuit in Eitel v. 11 McCool, 782 F.2d 1470, 1472 (9th Cir. 1986), and found the factors weighed in favor of granting 12 the motion for default judgment. (Doc. 14.) Specifically, the magistrate judge found default 13 judgment was appropriate for Plaintiff’s claim arising under the ADA, and recommended the 14 requested injunctive relief be granted. (Id. at 8-16.) The magistrate judge also found default 15 judgment was appropriate for the claim arising under the Unruh Act, and recommended awarding 16 statutory damages in the amount of $4,000.00. (Id. at 13-14, 16-17.) Finally, the magistrate 17 judge recommended Plaintiff be awarded attorneys’ fees in the modified amount of $1,888.00 and 18 litigation expenses and costs in the amount of $1,007.85, for a total of $2,895.85. (Id. at 17-20.) 19 The Findings and Recommendations were served on Plaintiff, who served the defendants 20 on July 31, 2025. (Doc. 15.) The Court informed the parties that any objections must be filed 21 within 14 days of the date of service. (Doc. 14 at 21.) In addition, the Court advised the parties 22 that the “failure to file objections within the specified time may result in the waiver of rights on 23 appeal.” (Id., citing Wilkerson v. Wheeler, 772 F.3d 834, 838-39 (9th Cir. 2014).) No objections 24 were filed, and the time to do so expired. 25 III. Supplemental Jurisdiction 26 Before finding monetary damages were appropriate for the identified state law claims, the 27 magistrate judge did not make any findings as to whether the Court should exercise supplemental 28 jurisdiction over Plaintiff’s state law claims, or whether exceptional circumstances exist to decline 1 such jurisdiction. A court that has original jurisdiction over a civil action—such as a one raising a 2 claim under the ADA—“shall have supplemental jurisdiction over all other claims that are so 3 related to claims in the action within such original jurisdiction that they form part of the same 4 case or controversy under Article III of the United States Constitution.” 28 U.S.C. § 1367(a). 5 State claims are part of the same case or controversy as federal claims “when they derive from a 6 common nucleus of operative fact and are such that a plaintiff would ordinarily be expected to try 7 them in one judicial proceeding.” Kuba v. 1-A Agric. Assoc., 387 F.3d 850, 855-56 (9th Cir. 8 2004) (internal quotation marks, citation omitted). Notably, the Ninth Circuit concluded ADA 9 and Unruh Act claims that derive from a common nucleus of facts “form part of the ‘same case or 10 controversy’ for purposes of § 1367(a).” Arroyo v. Rosas, 19 F.4th 1202, 1209 (9th Cir. 2021).

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Acosta v. All American Glass, Inc., (E.D. Cal. 2025).

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