Acosta v. Singh

District Court, E.D. California·Decided June 17, 2025·No. 1:24-cv-01437·Unknown

Opinion

JOSE ACOSTA, Case No. 1:24-cv-01437 JLT HBK Plaintiff, ORDER ADOPTING IN PART THE FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS, v. GRANTING IN PART PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR DEFAULT JUDGMENT, JASWANT SINGH, individually and dba DISMISSING PLAINTIFF’S STATE LAW GRANT MARKET and RAJINDER CLAIMS WITHOUT PREJUDICE, AND KAUR, individually and dba GRANT DIRECTING THE CLERK OF COURT TO MARKET, CLOSE THE CASE Defendants. (Docs. 10, 12) Jose Acosta default judgment against the defendants—Jaswant Singh, individually and doing business as Grant Market, and Rajinder Kaur, individually and doing business as Grant Market—for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act and California Health & Safety Code §§ 19955, 19959. (Doc. 10.) For the reasons set forth below, the motion for default judgment is granted in part. The Court finds default judgment is appropriate for the claim arising under the ADA but declines to exercise supplemental jurisdiction and dismisses the claims arising under state law without prejudice. I. Relevant Background Plaintiff reports he “is substantially limited in his ability to walk, and must use a wheelchair for mobility.” (Doc. 1 at 2, ¶ 8.) He asserts he visited Grant Market “to purchase refreshments and snacks” on April 18, 2024. (Id., ¶ 10.) Plaintiff alleges he “personally encountered barriers (both physical and intangible)” at Grant Market that interfered with his ability to use and enjoy the goods and services. (Id. at 2, ¶ 10.) Specifically, Plaintiff identified the following architectural barriers:

a) Plaintiff parked in a designated accessible parking stall near the Facility entrance, but the parking stall pavement markings were extremely faded and the stall appeared to lack an access aisle. Plaintiff had to unload from his vehicle within the path of vehicular traffic, which was difficult. Plaintiff also had to travel through the vehicular drive to reach the entry walkway because a bollard obstructed the direct route.

b) The aisles inside the Facility were too narrow for Plaintiff’s wheelchair to fit through, so he could not navigate around the store. Plaintiff had to ask the cashier to get a soda for him because he could not fit down the aisle to reach it. c) The transaction counter was too high, which made it difficult for Plaintiff to pay for his purchase from a wheelchair-seated position. (Id. at 3, ¶ 10.) Plaintiff reports that he “lives less than 20 miles” from Grant market, and he “was, and continues to be, deterred from visiting” the market because he knows the “goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations were and are unavailable to [him] due to [his] physical disabilities.” (Id. at 2-3, ¶¶ 10, 12.) Plaintiff asserts that he will return to Grant Market “once the barriers are removed” because he “enjoys the goods and services offered.” (Id. at 3, ¶ 12.) On November 22, 2024, Plaintiff initiated this action by filing a complaint against the defendants alleging: (1) violations of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, (2) violation of California’s Unruh Act, and (3) denial of full and equal access to public facilities under California’s Health and Safety Code. (Doc. 1 at 4-8.) Plaintiff asserts that the defendants “possessed and enjoyed sufficient control and authority” to remove the barriers and ensure Grant Market complied with the 1991 ADA Accessibility Guidelines and/or the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design. (Id. at 4, ¶ 14.) In addition, Plaintiff contends the defendants have “the financial resources to remove the[] barriers … without much difficulty or expense[], and make the Facility accessible to the physically disabled.” (Id. at 3, ¶ 13.) Plaintiff served the defendants with the summons and complaint. (Docs. 4, 5.) After the defendants failed to respond to the complaint, Plaintiff requested the Court enter default. (Doc. 6.) The Clerk of Court entered default on January 21, 2025. (Doc. 7.) Plaintiff now seeks default judgment, requesting injunctive and declaratory relief, statutory damages under the Unruh Act, attorneys’ fees, and costs. (Doc. 10.) II. Findings and Recommendations The magistrate judge evaluated the factors set forth by the Ninth Circuit in Eitel v. McCool, 782 F.2d 1470, 1472 (9th Cir. 1986), and found the factors weighed in favor of granting the motion for default judgment. (Doc. 12 at 3-8.) Specifically, the magistrate judge found default judgment was appropriate for Plaintiff’s claim arising under the ADA, and recommended the requested injunctive relief be granted. (Id. at 8-9.) The magistrate judge also found default judgment was appropriate for the claim arising under the Unruh Act, and recommended awarding statutory damages in the amount of $4,000.00. (Id. at 6, 9-10.) Finally, the magistrate judge recommended Plaintiff be awarded attorneys’ fees in the amount of $3,014.50 and litigation expenses and costs in the amount of $760.26, for a total of $3,774.76. (Id. at 10-11.) The Findings and Recommendations were served on Plaintiff, who served the defendants on May 16, 2025. (Doc. 13.) The Court informed the parties that any objections must be filed within 14 days of the date of service. (Doc. 12 at 12.) In addition, the Court advised the parties that the “failure to file objections within the specified time may result in the waiver of certain rights on appeal.” (Id. at 13, citing Wilkerson v. Wheeler, 772 F.3d 834, 838-39 (9th Cir. 2014).) No objections were filed, and the time to do so expired. III. Supplemental Jurisdiction Prior to finding monetary damages were appropriate for the identified state law claims, the magistrate judge did not make any findings as to whether the Court should exercise supplemental jurisdiction over Plaintiff’s state law claims, or whether exceptional circumstances exist to decline jurisdiction. A court that has original jurisdiction over a civil action—such as a one raising a claim under the AD—“shall have supplemental jurisdiction over all other claims that are so related to claims in the action within such original jurisdiction that they form part of the same case or controversy under Article III of the United States Constitution.” 28 U.S.C. § 1367(a). State claims are part of the same case or controversy as federal claims “when they derive from a common nucleus of operative fact and are such that a plaintiff would ordinarily be expected to try them in one judicial proceeding.” Kuba v. 1-A Agric. Assoc., 387 F.3d 850, 855-56 (9th Cir. 2004) (internal quotation marks, citation omitted). Notably, the Ninth Circuit concluded ADA and Unruh Act claims that derive from a common nucleus of facts “form part of the ‘same case or controversy/ for purposes of § 1367(a).” Arroyo v. Rosas, 19 F.4th 1202, 1209 (9th Cir. 2021). Supplemental jurisdiction “is a doctrine of discretion, not of plaintiff’s right” and district courts “can decline to exercise jurisdiction over pendent claims for a number of valid reasons.” City of Chicago v. Int’l College of Surgeons, 522 U.S. 156, 172 (1997) (internal quotation marks, citations omitted). A district court may “decline supplemental jurisdiction over a claim” if:

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