Ault v. Walt Disney World Co.

254 F.R.D. 680, 21 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 695, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2086, 2009 WL 33533
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedJanuary 5, 2009
DocketNo. 6:07-cv-1785-Orl-31KRS
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 254 F.R.D. 680 (Ault v. Walt Disney World Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Ault v. Walt Disney World Co., 254 F.R.D. 680, 21 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 695, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2086, 2009 WL 33533 (M.D. Fla. 2009).

Opinion

[684]*684ORDER

GREGORY A. PRESNELL, District Judge.

This matter came before the Court without oral argument upon consideration of the parties’ Second1 Agreed Motion for Leave to Amend Plaintiffs’ First Amended Complaint (“Agreed Motion for Leave to Amend”) (Doc. 81) and Joint Motion for Conditional Class Certification and Preliminary Approval of Joint Stipulation of Settlement and Release (“Joint Motion for Conditional Class Certification”) (Doc. 82).

I. Background

As noted in the Court’s prior orders throughout this case, Plaintiffs, Mahala Ault, Stacie Rhea and Dan Wallace (collectively, “Plaintiffs”), bring this class action, on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated, against Defendant, Walt Disney World, Co. (“Disney”), for alleged violations of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12182, et seq. (“the ADA”).

Specifically, Plaintiffs allege that they are disabled and rely primarily on the Segways, as opposed to wheelchairs or scooters, for their mobility. A Segway is a two-wheeled, self-balancing, motorized transportation device upon which an individual must stand in order to ride. Disney generally prohibits the use of Segways by visitors at all of its Florida and California theme parks (the “Parks”), but permits visitors to use wheelchairs or scooters. Plaintiffs allege that Disney’s prohibition on Segways has the effect of denying them the full use and enjoyment of the Parks in contravention of the ADA.

In their Second Agreed Motion for Leave to Amend, the parties seek leave for Plaintiffs to file a Second Amended Complaint which would broaden Plaintiffs’ proposed class definition to include Disney’s theme parks located in California as well as Florida. Consistent with this Court’s December 12, 2008 Order (Doc. 80) denying the parties’ first Agreed Motion for Leave to Amend (Doc. 79), Plaintiffs Second Agreed Motion for Leave to Amend includes a class definition which sufficiently limits the proposed settlement class to a cohesive unit. Accordingly, and for the reasons articulated in the Court’s prior Order (Doc. 80), the Second Agreed Motion for Leave to Amend will be granted.

In their Joint Motion for Conditional Class Certification, the parties seek certification of a nationwide settlement class under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(2). After more than a year of extensive discovery and motion practice, including a pending and contested motion for class certification (Doc. 66), the parties have now reached a settlement. Specifically, the parties have agreed that Disney will make available certain electrically-powered, stand-up vehicles (“ESVs”) at its Parks for guests who claim to have a disabili[685]*685ty which requires them to use a standup mobility device. Disney has developed these ESVs on its own and has agreed to make available no fewer than fifteen (15) of these devices at its Parks starting sometime reasonably after April 1, 2009.

After articulating the standards for class certification, the Court addresses the Joint Motion for Conditional Class Certification, infra. Having concluded that certification of a settlement-only class is appropriate in this case, the Court then analyzes the terms of the proposed settlement pursuant to Rule 23(e). The Court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331.

II. Standard of Review

A district court must rigorously analyze whether the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 are satisfied before certifying a class. General Telephone Co. v. Falcon, 457 U.S. 147, 161, 102 S.Ct. 2364, 72 L.Ed.2d 740 (1982); Castano v. Am. Tobacco Co., 84 F.3d 734, 740 (5th Cir.1996); Gilchrist v. Bolger, 733 F.2d 1551, 1555 (11th Cir.1984). This is true even in the context of a proposed settlement class. Amchem Prods., Inc. v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591, 620, 117 S.Ct. 2231, 138 L.Ed.2d 689 (1997) (“Confronted with a request for settlement-only class certification, a district court need not inquire whether the case, if tried, would present intractable management problems ... But other specifications of [Rule 23]— those designed to protect absentees by blocking unwarranted or overbroad class definitions—demand undiluted, even heightened, attention in the settlement context.”). While the terms of a settlement may play a role in the calculus under Rule 23(a), courts cannot substitute the “fairness” of a settlement for Rule 23’s certification criteria. Id. at 622, 117 S.Ct. 2231.

Plaintiffs bear the burden of satisfying all of the prerequisites of Rule 23(a) and at least one of the requirements of Rule 23(b). Rutstein v. Avis Rent-A-Car Sys., Inc., 211 F.3d 1228, 1233 (11th Cir.2000) (internal citation and quotation omitted); Gilchrist, 733 F.2d at 1556. In pertinent part, Rule 23(a) requires that:

(1) the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable; (2) there are questions of law or fact common to the class; (3) the claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the class; and (4) the representative parties will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class.

Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a).

The commonalty and typicality requirements of Rule 23 are guideposts which tend to merge. Falcon, 457 U.S. at 158 n. 13, 102 S.Ct. 2364. Together with adequacy of representation, these requirements ask whether the proposed class would be a sufficiently cohesive unit as to warrant deviation from the usual principle that “one is not bound by a judgment in personam in a litigation in which he is not designated as a party or to which he has not been made a party by service of process.” Hansberry v. Lee, 311 U.S. 32, 40, 61 S.Ct. 115, 85 L.Ed. 22 (1940) (internal citations omitted).

In addition to Rule 23(a)’s requirements, a proposed class seeking injunctive relief must also satisfy Rule 23(b)(2) by demonstrating that “the party opposing the class has acted or refused to act on grounds generally applicable to the class, thereby making appropriate final injunctive relief or corresponding declaratory relief with respect to the class as a whole.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(b)(2).

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254 F.R.D. 680, 21 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 695, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2086, 2009 WL 33533, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ault-v-walt-disney-world-co-flmd-2009.