Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition v. Abercrombie & Fitch Co.

957 F. Supp. 2d 1272, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 31645, 2013 WL 856510
CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedMarch 7, 2013
DocketCivil Action No. 09-cv-02757-WYD-KMT
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 957 F. Supp. 2d 1272 (Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition v. Abercrombie & Fitch Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition v. Abercrombie & Fitch Co., 957 F. Supp. 2d 1272, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 31645, 2013 WL 856510 (D. Colo. 2013).

Opinion

ORDER

WILEY Y. DANIEL, Senior District Judge.

I. BACKGROUND

THIS MATTER comes before the Court on Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment, Entry of Injunction, and Entry of Judgment, filed April 27, 2012 [ECF No. 162], and Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment or, In the Alternative, To Vacate August 31, 2011 Order [ECF No. 164], The motions have been fully briefed by the parties and the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has filed its Statement of Interest On the Parties’ Motions for Summary Judgment (“Statement of Interest”). [ECF No. 181], Based on these briefs and oral argument to the Court on January 24, 2013, I grant Plaintiffs’ motion and deny Defendants’ motion as more fully set forth below.

Plaintiffs, a class of individuals who use wheelchairs or scooters for mobility, challenge the raised porch entrances at approximately 248 Hollister brand stores operated by Defendant Abercrombie & Fitch Stores LLC. On August 31, 2011, this Court held that the raised porch entrances at two stores in Colorado were in violation [1275]*1275of section 41.3(8) of the 1991 Department of Justice Standards for Accessible Design (“1991 Standards”), 28 C.F.R. pt. 36, app. D (2012), and therefore of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), 42 U.S.C. § 12183(a)(1). Colo. Cross-Disability Coal. v. Abercrombie & Fitch Co., 835 F.Supp.2d 1077, 1080 (D.Colo.2011). [ECF No. 109.] On April 20, 2012, this Court certified a class defined as follows:

all people with disabilities who use wheelchairs for mobility who, during the two years prior to the filing of the Complaint in this case, were denied the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of any Hollister Co. Store in the United States on the basis of disability because of the presence of an Elevated Entrance.

Colo. Cross-Disability Coal. v. Abercrombie & Fitch Co., 2012 WL 1378531, at *1, *7 (D.Colo. Apr. 20, 2012). [ECF No. 161.]

Following certification of the class, Plaintiffs moved to extend the summary judgment holding to the remainder of the Hollister stores with Raised Porch Entrances. Defendants simultaneously moved for summary judgment and/or to vacate the Court’s August 31, 2011 order on the grounds that they had made modifications to the remaining open store visited by the Representative Plaintiffs, and that the stores in question were in compliance with the 2010 DOJ Standards for Accessible Design (“2010 Standards”).1 It is these motions that are currently before the Court.

II. FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Defendant Abercrombie & Fitch Co., through subsidiaries Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc., and JM Hollister, LLC, (collectively “Defendants”), operates approximately 500 Hollister brand stores around the country. See Defs.’ Mot. for Summ. J. or, In the Alternative, to Vacate August 31, 2011 Order [ECF No. 164 at ¶1],

2. Plaintiffs Julie Farrar and Anita Hansen (the “Representative Plaintiffs”) are individuals who live in the Denver area. Both are substantially limited in the major life activity of walking, and both use wheelchairs for mobility.

3. Plaintiff Colorado Cross Disability Coalition (“CCDC”) is a Colorado nonprofit that advocates for the rights of individuals with disabilities and their allies.

4. The front areas of approximately 248 of the Hollister stores around the country are configured similarly. They contain a raised front porch that leads to two possible store entrances: one to the “Dudes” side, containing men’s clothing, and the other to the “Bettys” side, containing women’s. Steps lead up to the porch from the mall floor and then down from the porch into the two sides of the store. Decl. of Amy F. Robertson in Support of Summary Judgment, Entry of Injunction, and Entry of Judgment, Ex. 7 (“Robertson Decl.”) [ECF No. 172, 172-1 through -3], Defs.’ Combined Opp’n to Pis.’ Amd. and Supplemented Mot. for Summ. J. and Reply Brief in Supp. of Defs.’ Mot. for Summ. J. (“Defs.’ Combined Opp’n”) at ii ¶2 [ECF No. 179], These porches, which will be referred to herein as “Raised Porch Entrances,” are accessible only by steps, and are therefore inaccessible to people who use wheelchairs. Robertson Decl. Ex. 7; Defs.’ Combined Opp’n at iv ¶ 12.

[1276]*12765. The purpose of this Raised Porch Entrance “is to give the stores the aesthetic appearance of a Southern California surf shack____” Decl. of Michael Bondy (“Bondy Deck”) [ECF No. 164-1] ¶4.2 As such, the Raised Porch Entrance “is a significant aspect of the stores’ branding and marketing efforts.” Deck of Adam Hill (“Hill Deck”) [ECF No. 93-2] ¶ 8;3 Defs Combined Opp’n at ii, ¶ 3. The Raised Porch Entrance was included in the design “to create ... an entry to a house in southern California that you would walk up onto the porch or walk down into the porch, to enter like you would do at a beach house.” Hill Dep. 37:9-22; see also id. at 30:15-31:15; 33:19-34:7 (Robertson Deck Ex. 5 [ECF No. 171-2]).

6. The Raised Porch Entrances at Hollister stores have upholstered chairs, a marketing image, and mannequins displaying merchandise. Bondy Dep. 54:9-55:3 (Robertson Deck Ex. 4). While the furniture is not intended as seating, customers are permitted to sit there. See id. 55:14-56:1. Where the porch is raised, i.e., at the approximately 248 Hollister stores at issue here, customers in wheelchairs do not “have the ability to touch or feel the clothes” on display there or otherwise take part in this Hollister experience. See id. 58:19-59:2.

7. Shoppers who use wheelchairs are not able to enter the stores through the Raised Porch Entrances. Rather, they enter through accessible doors — on the same level as the mall floor — to each side of the Raised Porch Entrance. The accessible side entrances are designed to look like French doors similar to the inoperable French doors farther to the left and right of the accessible side entrances. Hill Dep. 107:2-108:10.

8. Overall, the visual impression is of a main, decorated, primary but inaccessible entrance in the center, with smaller, inferi- or, undecorated accessible entrances to each side.

9. All of the Hollister stores at issue were constructed after January 26, 1993 but before September 15, 2010. Robertson Deck ¶3 & Ex. 1 [ECF No. 171-2],

10. Representative Plaintiffs have patronized the Hollister stores at the Orchard Towne Center and Park Meadows malls in the Denver area. Both have experienced discrimination at those stores, and both have expressed intent to return to the Park Meadows store. See Order [ECF No. 161] at 9-10.

11. The Orchard Towne Center Hollister store is now closed. Bondy Deck ¶ 8.

12. Following this Court’s decisions granting partial summary judgment to Plaintiffs and certifying a nationwide class, Defendants made two changes to the Park Meadows Hollister store. Signage has been added at each accessible side entrance indicating whether it enters into the “Dudes” side of the store (displaying men’s clothing) or the “Bettys” side of the store (displaying women’s clothing).

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Related

J.M. Hollister, LLC v. Architectural Access Board
12 N.E.3d 337 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 2014)

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Bluebook (online)
957 F. Supp. 2d 1272, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 31645, 2013 WL 856510, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/colorado-cross-disability-coalition-v-abercrombie-fitch-co-cod-2013.