Brooks v. Lola & Soto Business Group, Inc.

District Court, E.D. California·Decided March 2, 2022·No. 2:21-cv-00158·Unknown

Opinion

VALERIE BROOKS, individually and on No. 2:21-cv-00158-TLN-DB behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiff, v. LOLA & SOTO BUSINESS GROUP, INC. d/b/a MISS LOLA, a California corporation; and DOES 1 to 10, inclusive, Defendant.

This matter is before the Court on Defendant Lola & Soto Business Group, Inc. d/b/a Miss Lola’s (“Defendant”) Motion to Dismiss. (ECF No. 11-1.) Plaintiff Valerie Brooks (“Plaintiff”) filed an opposition. (ECF No. 12.) Defendant replied.1 (ECF No. 16.) For the reasons set forth below, the Court GRANTS Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 11), with leave to amend. /// /// /// /// 1 Defendant has also filed a Notice of Supplemental Authority in Support of its Motion to Dismiss, (ECF No. 17), which this Court has reviewed. I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND2 Plaintiff alleges she is a visually impaired and legally blind individual who requires screen-reading software to read website content on her computer. (ECF No. 1 at 1.) Plaintiff claims she tried to visit Defendant’s website, htpps://www.misslola.com/ (“the Website”), on several unspecified occasions, most recently in 2021. (Id. at 8–9.) However, in navigating the Website, Plaintiff encountered “multiple access barriers” while using screen-reading software. (Id. at 8–10.) Plaintiff also claims those barriers “deterred and impeded [her] from the full and equal enjoyment of goods and services offered in Defendant’s store and from making purchases at such physical location.” (Id. at 10.) As factual support for her claim that the Website interfered with her access to Defendant’s physical store, Plaintiff alleges only that she “was unable to find the location and hours of operation of Defendant’s store on its website, preventing Plaintiff from visiting the location to purchase products and/or services.” (Id.) In terms of the offending website barriers, Plaintiff alleges she encountered several shortcomings, including most notably the lack of alternative text (“alt-text”) code embedded beneath a website graphic or image that would enable the screen-reading software to describe the graphic or image for a sight-impaired user. (Id. at 8–9.) In addition to preventing Plaintiff from accessing “a fashion forward brand with the most coveted styles of the season[,]” Plaintiff complains of an inability to access information on the Website, including information about: “new arrivals, items back in stock, shoes, clothing, accessories, [and] exclusive merchandise[.]” (Id. at 9.) On January 26, 2021, Plaintiff filed a complaint alleging Defendant violated Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and the California Unruh Act (“Unruh”). See 42 U.S.C. §§ 12182–12189; Cal. Civ. Code §§ 51-52; (ECF No. 1). On April 28, 2021, Defendant moved to dismiss Plaintiff’s claims pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (“Rule” or

2 The following recitation of facts is taken, sometimes verbatim, from Plaintiff’s Complaint. (ECF No. 1.) “Rules”) 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. (ECF No. 11-1.) Plaintiff subsequently filed an opposition on May 27, 2021. (ECF No. 12.) Defendant submitted a reply on June 3, 2021. (ECF No. 16.) A. Rule 12(b)(1) A motion under Rule 12(b)(1) challenges a federal court’s jurisdiction to decide claims alleged in the complaint. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1); see also id. at 12(h)(3) (“If the court determines at any time that it lacks subject-matter jurisdiction, the court must dismiss the action.”). A court considering a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction is not restricted to the face of the complaint and may review any evidence to resolve disputes concerning the existence of jurisdiction. McCarthy v. United States, 850 F.2d 558, 560 (9th Cir. 1988); see also Thornhill Pub. Co., Inc. v. Gen. Tel. & Elec. Corp., 594 F.2d 730, 733 (9th Cir. 1979) (in a factual attack on subject matter jurisdiction, “[n]o presumptive truthfulness attaches to plaintiff’s allegations.”). “Once challenged, the party asserting subject matter jurisdiction has the burden of proving its existence.” Robinson v. United States, 586 F.3d 683, 685 (9th Cir. 2009) (quoting Rattlesnake Coal. v. E.P.A., 509 F.3d 1095, 1102 n.1 (9th Cir. 2007)). If a plaintiff lacks standing under Article III of the United States Constitution, then the Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction and the case must be dismissed. See Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Env’t, 523 U.S. 83, 102–04 (1998). Similarly, “if none of the named plaintiffs purporting to represent a class establishes the requisite case or controversy with the defendants, none may seek relief on behalf of himself or any other member of the class.” O’Shea v. Littleton, 414 U.S. 488, 494 (1974). To satisfy Article III standing, a plaintiff must allege: (1) an injury-in- fact that is concrete and particularized, as well as actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical; (2) that is fairly traceable to the challenged action of the defendant; and (3) that is redressable by a favorable judicial decision. Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 136 S. Ct. 1540, 1547 (2016) as revised (May 24, 2016); Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms, 561 U.S. 139, 149 (2010). Plaintiff bears the burden of proof and must “clearly . . . allege facts demonstrating each element.” Spokeo, Inc., 136 S. Ct. at 1547 (internal quotations omitted) (quoting Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 518 (1975)). “[E]ven named plaintiffs who represent a class ‘must allege and show that they personally have been injured, not that injury has been suffered by other, unidentified members of the class to which they belong.’” Id. at 1547 n.6 (quoting Simon v. E. Ky. Welfare Rights Org., 426 U.S. 26, 40 n.20 (1976)). B. Rule 12(b)(6) A motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted under Rule 12(b)(6) tests the legal sufficiency of a complaint. Navarro v. Block, 250 F.3d 729, 732 (9th Cir. 2001). Rule 8(a) requires that a pleading contain “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2); see also Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 677–78 (2009). Under notice pleading in federal court, the complaint must “give the defendant fair notice of what the . . . claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.” Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007) (internal citation and quotations omitted). “This simplified notice pleading standard relies on liberal discovery rules and summary judgment motions to define disputed facts and issues and to dispose of unmeritorious claims.” Swierkiewicz v. Sorema N.A., 534 U.S. 506, 512 (2002). On a motion to dismiss, the factual allegations of the complaint must be accepted as true. Cruz v. Beto, 405 U.S.

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Brooks v. Lola & Soto Business Group, Inc., (E.D. Cal. 2022).

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