Castillo v. The John Gore Organization, Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedNovember 14, 2019
Docket1:19-cv-00388
StatusUnknown

This text of Castillo v. The John Gore Organization, Inc. (Castillo v. The John Gore Organization, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Castillo v. The John Gore Organization, Inc., (E.D.N.Y. 2019).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

Evelyn Castillo, on behalf of herself and all others similarly 19-cv-388 (ARR) (PK) situated,

Plaintiff,

— against — Not for print or electronic publication The John Gore Organization, Inc.,

Defendant. Opinion & Order

ROSS, United States District Judge:

Plaintiff Evelyn Castillo, purportedly on behalf of a class, is suing The John Gore Organization, Inc., alleging that the defendant’s theater unlawfully discriminates on the basis of disability. Her complaint raises claims under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act §§ 301–308, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12181–12188 (2018); the New York State Human Rights Law, N.Y. Exec. Law §§ 291–297 (McKinney 2019); the New York State Civil Rights Law, N.Y. Civ. Rights Law §§ 40–41 (McKinney 2019); and the New York City Human Rights Law, N.Y.C., N.Y. Admin. Code §§ 8-102–8-126 (1991), https://www1.nyc.gov/site/cchr/law/text-of-the-law.page. The defendant has moved to dismiss the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1), claiming that the plaintiff lacks standing. Alternatively, the defendant has moved to dismiss for failure to state a claim pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6). For the reasons set forth below, the defendant’s motion to dismiss for lack of standing is granted. Because I lack subject matter jurisdiction, I do not decide whether the plaintiff has failed to state a claim. BACKGROUND The plaintiff, Evelyn Castillo, alleges that she has diabetes mellitus, a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Compl. ¶¶ 3, 21, ECF No. 1. The defendant, the John Gore Organization, owns and operates the Charles Playhouse, a theater in Boston, Massachusetts. Id. at ¶¶ 1, 14, 25. In or around December 2018, from Kings County, New York—where she resides—the plaintiff visited the defendant’s website because she “intended to buy tickets to attend” a “concert” there. Id. at ¶¶ 12, 17, 21, 24.1 However, the plaintiff “did not book a ticket”

after seeing on the defendant’s website that the defendant had a policy prohibiting patrons from bringing outside food into the theater. Id. at ¶ 12; see Pl.’s Ex. A at 2, ECF No. 7-1 (“Ex. A”). Because she has diabetes, the plaintiff must have specific types of snacks with her at all times, as her blood sugar can drop suddenly, and she must immediately eat an appropriate food item to stabilize it. See Compl. ¶ 21. Thus, the defendant’s policy banning outside food from its theater deterred the plaintiff from visiting the theater. See id. at ¶¶ 24, 46–47. The plaintiff claims that she “intends to take advantage of the facilities offered by Defendant in the future once the access barriers are remedied” and that she “intends to attend a similar event at the [theater] as soon as Defendant fixes its discriminatory policies.” Id. at ¶¶ 12,

24. However, she does not claim that she has ever visited the defendant’s theater—or Boston—in the past. In fact, she claims that she “did not attempt to attend an event” at the theater “because she understood Defendant’s discriminatory policy and knew that such an attempt would be futile.” Id. at ¶ 47. According to the defendant, in December 2018, its website’s homepage contained an “accessibility” policy that invited visitors to contact the theater about any accessibility concerns. Spry Decl. ¶¶ 7–8, ECF No. 25. Specifically, that policy stated that “[t]he Charles Playhouse is

1 The defendant notes that the performance that the plaintiff alleges she intended to see was a play and not a concert. Def.’s Mem. of Law in Supp. of Mot. to Dismiss 7 n.8, ECF No. 20 (“Def.’s Mem.”). accessible to all patrons. Guests with accessibility questions or who require additional assistance may email the Playhouse directly . . . or call the House Manager . . . .” Def.’s Ex. 4, ECF No. 25- 4 (“Ex. 4”). It also provided an email address and phone number for such accessibility questions or requests. See id. It further provided more specific accessibility information for wheelchair users and individuals with visual impairments. See id. The website’s homepage also contained a “code

of conduct” that included a policy prohibiting “outside food or beverage[.]” Spry Decl. ¶¶ 6, 10; Def.’s Ex. 6, ECF No. 25-6 (“Ex. 6”). All of the website’s homepage content—including the accessibility policy and the code of conduct—appeared on one page. Spry Decl. ¶ 6. The defendant sequenced its website content such that before reaching the policy prohibiting outside food, a website user must have first scrolled past the theater’s accessibility policy. Id. at ¶¶ 7, 10. Between December 2018 and at least September 2019, when the defendant’s employee David Spry submitted the latest declaration in connection with this case, “the substantive content, language and sequencing of all relevant portions” of the defendant’s website “have remained the same,” although the defendant migrated its website to a new platform for aesthetic reasons in March 2019.

See id. at ¶¶ 4–5. The plaintiff claims that when she accessed the defendant’s website in or around December 2018, she encountered the portion of the website prohibiting outside food, see, e.g., Compl. ¶ 24, but she does not claim to have contacted the theater to ask a question about accessibility or to request assistance. In January 2019, the plaintiff filed her complaint against the defendant, bringing claims under the ADA and related New York State and City laws. See Compl. ¶¶ 54–113. She purports to be bringing her claims as a class action on behalf of “all legally metabolically-disabled individuals in the United States who have attempted to access the [Charles Playhouse] and as a result have been denied access to the enjoyment of goods and services offered in the [Charles Playhouse] during the relevant statutory period.” Id. at ¶ 27. She seeks injunctive and declaratory relief, as well as compensatory damages. Id. at ¶¶ 114–18. The defendant moved to dismiss for lack of constitutional standing pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1), see Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1), and for failure to state a claim pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). See Def.’s Mem. 2–3,

ECF No. 20. DISCUSSION Article III of the United States Constitution limits the jurisdiction of the federal courts so that they may hear only “Cases” and “Controversies.” Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 559 (1992). In order for a justiciable case or controversy to exist, a plaintiff must satisfy the three requirements of constitutional standing. See id. at 560–61. “First, the plaintiff must have suffered an ‘injury in fact’—an invasion of a legally protected interest which is (a) concrete and particularized, and (b) ‘actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical.’” Id. at 560 (internal citations omitted) (quoting Whitmore v. Arkansas, 495 U.S. 149, 155 (1990)). Second, the plaintiff

must show “a causal connection between the injury and the conduct complained of . . . .” Lujan, 504 U.S. at 560 (citing Simon v. E. Ky. Welfare Rights Org., 426 U.S. 26, 41–42 (1976)). Third, it must be likely that a favorable judicial decision will redress the injury. Lujan, 504 U.S. at 561 (citing Simon, 426 U.S.

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