Delacruz v. Tanimura & Antle, Inc.

District Court, N.D. California·Decided October 20, 2023·No. 5:23-cv-03034·Unknown

Opinion

DANIEL DELACRUZ, Case No. 23-cv-03034-VKD

Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT v. QUIRARTE'S MOTION TO DISMISS COMPLAINT TANIMURA & ANTLE, INC., et al., Re: Dkt. No. 15 Defendants.

Plaintiff Daniel Delacruz, who is representing himself, filed this action against defendants Tanimura & Antle, Inc. (“TAI”), Mike Antle, Carmen Ponce, and Claudia Quirarte, asserting, among other things, that defendants unlawfully discriminated and retaliated against him based on a disability. Dkt. No. 1. Defendant Claudia Quirarte moves pursuant to Rules 8 and 12(b)(6) to dismiss Mr. Delacruz’s complaint.1 Dkt. No. 15. Mr. Delacruz opposes the motion. Dkt. No. 19. The Court deemed the matter suitable for determination without oral argument. Dkt. No. 26; Civil L.R. 7-1(b). Upon consideration of the moving and responding papers, the Court grants Ms. Quirarte’s motion with limited leave to amend as discussed below.2 According to his complaint, Mr. Delacruz has been diagnosed with Fabry Disease, a rare hereditary enzyme deficiency disorder, for which he receives enzyme replacement therapy

1 The Court addresses the motion to dismiss filed by TAI, Mr. Antle, and Ms. Ponce in a separate order. (“ERT”) “on a regular basis to prevent chronic organ failure and death.” Dkt. No. 1 ¶¶ 19, 22. Defendant Claudia Quirarte is identified as a registered nurse, who works at the medical facility where Mr. Delacruz received ERT. Id. ¶ 52. Defendant TAI is a produce company that employed Mr. Delacruz from about April 1988 to July 1996. See id. ¶ 21; see also id. Ex. 8 at ECF 58. Defendant Mike Antle is identified as an “owner, employee, and a Vice President” of TAI. Dkt. No. 1 ¶ 8. Defendant Carmen Ponce is alleged to be TAI’s “Vice President of Human Resources and Assistant General Counsel[.]” Id. ¶ 9. Mr. Delacruz alleges that on one occasion, apparently some time before 1999 when Mr. Delacruz was still employed by TAI, Rick Antle (identified as TAI’s president, now deceased) was in a break room eating one of TAI’s salad products with heavy dressing. Id. ¶ 21; see also id. ¶ 22. When Mr. Delacruz commented, “[B]e careful, that stuff can give you a heart attack,” Rick Antle reportedly replied, “[Y]ou’re the one that needs to worry about that stuff!” Dkt. No. 1 ¶ 21. According to Mr. Delacruz, Rick Antle’s response was a gloating reference to Mr. Delacruz’s enzyme deficiency disorder and an indication that Rick Antle believed that he would outlive Mr. Delacruz. Id. The complaint alleges that years later, in 2018, Rick Antle passed away. Id. ¶ 23. In 2019, during one of Mr. Delacruz’s ERT procedures, Mr. Delacruz “recited Rick Antle’s malevolent gloat made towards [Mr. Delacruz] and the irony of Rick Antle’s death[.]” Id. Ms. Quirarte allegedly overheard Mr. Delacruz’s comment and repeated it to defendants Mike Antle and Ms. Ponce. Id. Mr. Delacruz alleges that this caused Mr. Antle and Ms. Ponce to seek “new means to harass and interfere with [his] health services” and “to fulfill the death threats” that Mr. Delacruz says he has received. Id. For example, Mr. Delacruz alleges that, among other falsehoods, Mr. Antle and Ms. Ponce continue to disseminate to Ms. Quirarte and other people, “their fraudulent claim that [Mr. Delacruz] is not disabled[.]” Id. ¶¶ 49, 50; see also id. ¶ 57. As a result, during medical appointments, Ms. Quirarte allegedly would “contemptuously star[e]” at Mr. Delacruz and make “snide[] remark[s],” such as observing that Mr. Delacruz did “not look disabled” or exclaiming possible, [he] would change his schedule for his medical procedures so that a different nurse would prepare his medication in an attempt to avoid Defendant Quirarte.” Id. ¶ 53. Ms. Quirarte, however, allegedly “would also adjust her work schedule to remain as [Mr. Delacruz]’s nurse.” Id. Mr. Delacruz further alleges that during one of his medical procedures, in which Ms. Quirarte removed an intravenous (“IV”) needle from his arm, she “deliberately maneuvered the needle out in an exaggerated arching path so that it dripped a stream of blood onto the medical pillow” supporting Mr. Delacruz’s arm. Id. ¶ 54. Ms. Quirarte reportedly never did this before. Id. Rather than comply with protocols requiring that the pillow promptly be disposed “in a medical trash bin that is located in the patient’s treatment are in plain view of [Mr. Delacruz],” Ms. Quirarte allegedly “took the disposable pillow case stained with [Mr. Delacruz]’s blood back to her work area located in a small room opposite to where [Mr. Delacruz] was seated and placed it on a shelf.” Id. ¶ 55. According to the complaint, Ms. Quirarte previously “never deviated from the proper disposal protocol of used and blood stained disposable medical pillows.” Id. The complaint further alleges that Ms. Quirarte “violat[ed] [Mr. Delacruz]’s privacy rights” by giving the blood-stained pillowcase “to Defendants Antle and Ponce to use for their nefarious purposes. For example, Defendants Antle and Ponce obtained [Mr. Delacruz]’s blood for analysis to further harass [Mr. Delacruz] by fraudulently disputing his disability as they have for over twenty years.” Id. ¶ 56. Mr. Delacruz further alleges that in addition to making snide remarks that he does not look disabled, Ms. Quirarte reportedly also began to omit ERT medication from his IV bags, “caus[ing] [his] various organ functions to deteriorate over time including his central nervous system resulting in tremors to his hands and loss of dexterity.” Id. ¶ 57. Additionally, Mr. Delacruz says that on or around June 26, 2019, Ms. Quirarte prepared his intravenous bag “that appeared abnormal and foamy.” Id. ¶ 58. But when Mr. Delacruz inquired about it, she “responded with an excuse that ‘it just needs to settle.’” Id. ¶¶ 58, 59. Suspicious, Mr. Delacruz says that he photographed the IV bag and showed it to one of his doctors and to a representative of the prepared by [Ms.] Quirarte appeared abnormal.” Id. ¶¶ 59, 60. Mr. Delacruz says that he became more suspicious of Ms. Quirarte and began to seat himself closer to her work area so he could observe her while she prepared his medication. Id. ¶ 61. However, Mr. Delacruz says that his view was partially blocked by Ms. Quirarte’s back, and she “took notice of [his] new seating arrangement and would constantly look over her shoulder and use her peripheral vision to see if [he] was observing her prepare [his]” medication. Id. Due to Ms. Quirarte’s “suspicious behavior and snide remarks,” Mr. Delacruz says that he “insisted on changing nurses for his ERT medical procedures” and later “changed his medical services provider as an added precaution.” Id. ¶ 62. However, Ms. Quirarte reportedly accessed Mr. Delacruz’s medical file to obtain the name of his new medical services provider and then “telephoned [Mr. Delacruz] to inform him that she was seeking employment with the same medical services provider and wanted to continue as [his] nurse.” Id. ¶ 63. Mr. Delacruz says he was alarmed and changed his medical services provider yet again “so that [Ms.] Quirarte would not be able to continue as his nurse and to prevent [her] from accessing his medical file from his new medical services provider.” Id. Mr. Delacruz’s complaint asserts six claims for relief against all defendants, four of which are based on federal law: disability discrimination and retaliation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), 42 U.S.C. § 12101, et seq. and various implementing regulations (claim 1); civil rights violations, 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (claim 2); breach of contract, 42 U.S.C. § 1981 (claim 3); and request for “Order to Show Cause re Specific Performance and Injunctive Relief,” 42

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Delacruz v. Tanimura & Antle, Inc., (N.D. Cal. 2023).

Delacruz v. Tanimura & Antle, Inc. (Delacruz v. Tanimura & Antle, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Haines v. Kerner
404 U.S. 519 (Supreme Court, 1972)
Runyon v. McCrary
427 U.S. 160 (Supreme Court, 1976)
Saint Francis College v. Al-Khazraji
481 U.S. 604 (Supreme Court, 1987)
West v. Atkins
487 U.S. 42 (Supreme Court, 1988)
Graham v. Connor
490 U.S. 386 (Supreme Court, 1989)
Wilder v. Virginia Hospital Assn.
496 U.S. 498 (Supreme Court, 1990)
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly
550 U.S. 544 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Fayer v. Vaughn
649 F.3d 1061 (Ninth Circuit, 2011)
Li Li Manatt v. Bank of America, Na
339 F.3d 792 (Ninth Circuit, 2003)
Laurie Tsao v. Desert Palace, Inc.
698 F.3d 1128 (Ninth Circuit, 2012)
Hearns v. San Bernardino Police Department
530 F.3d 1124 (Ninth Circuit, 2008)
In Re Gilead Sciences Securities Litigation
536 F.3d 1049 (Ninth Circuit, 2008)
Coto Settlement v. Eisenberg
593 F.3d 1031 (Ninth Circuit, 2010)
Robbins v. United States
5 F.2d 690 (N.D. California, 1925)
Ramirez-Lluveras v. Rivera-Merced
759 F.3d 10 (First Circuit, 2014)
Karim Khoja v. Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc.
899 F.3d 988 (Ninth Circuit, 2018)