Geffen v. Westin Monache Resort

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedJuly 20, 2021
Docket2:17-cv-01346
StatusUnknown

This text of Geffen v. Westin Monache Resort (Geffen v. Westin Monache Resort) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Geffen v. Westin Monache Resort, (E.D. Cal. 2021).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 DAVID GEFFEN, No. 2:17-cv-01346-TLN-CKD 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER 14 WESTIN MONACHE RESORT, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 This matter is before the Court on Defendants Westin Monache Resort, Starwood Hotels 18 & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., Intrawest Hospitality Management, Inc., and Intrawest Hospitality 19 Management LLC’s (“IHM”)1 Motion for Summary Judgment. (ECF No. 35.) Plaintiff David 20 Geffen (“Plaintiff”) filed an opposition. (ECF No. 37.) Defendants filed a reply. (ECF No. 43.) 21 Also before the Court is Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment. (ECF No. 46.) 22 Defendants filed an opposition. (ECF No. 49.) Plaintiff filed a reply. (ECF No. 50.) 23 For the reasons set forth below, the Court GRANTS Defendant’s motion (ECF No. 35) 24 and DENIES Plaintiff’s motion (ECF No. 46). 25 /// 26

27 1 Defendants argue none of the named Defendants exist, with the exception of IHM. (ECF No. 35 at 8 n.2.) However, to the extent the named Defendants jointly move for summary 28 judgment on the same grounds, the Court will reference Defendants collectively. 1 I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND 2 This case arises from Plaintiff’s alleged inability to book an accessible room at the Westin 3 Monache Resort (the “Resort”). The Resort — located at 50 Hillside Drive, Mammoth Lakes, 4 California (the “Property”) — is not a traditional hotel. The Property consists of residential 5 condominiums, common areas, and commercial areas. (ECF No. 35-1 at 3–4.) IHM owns 6 commercial areas on the Property, such as the restaurant, conference rooms, lobby bathrooms, 7 front desk, and “employee only” space behind the front desk. (Id. at ¶ 7.) The Monache 8 Condominium Owners Association (the “Association”) owns certain common areas of the 9 Property, such as the pool, gym, and parking structure. (Id. at ¶ 6.) The residential units are 10 privately owned. (Id. at ¶ 5.) If residential unit owners choose to rent their unit to a third party, 11 they may do so on their own, through an independent rental program, or through a nightly rental 12 program run by IHM in partnership with Westin (the “Nightly Rental Program”). (Id.) IHM 13 contracts with Westin to provide the Nightly Rental Program under the Westin brand and also 14 separately contracts with the individual condominium owners who opt to rent their units through 15 the Nightly Rental Program (“participating residential units”). (Id. at ¶¶ 5, 8.) 16 Plaintiff is paralyzed from the chest down and requires a wheelchair for mobility. (ECF 17 No. 49-5 at 14.) Plaintiff alleges he contacted the Resort in the summer of 2015 to book a room 18 for a family vacation. (ECF No. 7 at 4.) Plaintiff alleges he was unable to secure an accessible 19 room due to floor-length cabinetry under the bathroom sinks (the “cabinetry”). (Id.) More 20 specifically, Plaintiff alleges he left a message with the Resort asking whether the cabinetry was 21 removable. (ECF No. 41 at 2.) A Resort employee called Plaintiff back and left a message 22 stating that none of the rooms have an open space in the sink because of the cabinetry. (Id.) As a 23 result, Plaintiff cancelled his reservation and was unable to attend his family vacation. (Id. at 3.) 24 On June 30, 2017, Plaintiff brought this action against Defendants alleging violations of 25 the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101–12213 (“ADA”), as well as 26 California Civil Code §§ 51, 54, and 54.1. (See generally ECF Nos. 1, 7.) Defendants filed a 27 motion for summary judgment on September 13, 2019 (ECF No. 35), and Plaintiff filed a motion 28 for summary judgment on October 17, 2019 (ECF No. 46). 1 II. STANDARD OF LAW 2 Summary judgment is appropriate when the moving party demonstrates no genuine issue 3 of any material fact exists and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. 4 R. Civ. P. 56(a); Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 157 (1970). Under summary 5 judgment practice, the moving party always bears the initial responsibility of informing the 6 district court of the basis of its motion, and identifying those portions of “the pleadings, 7 depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file together with affidavits, if any,” 8 which it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. Celotex Corp. v. 9 Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323 (1986). “[W]here the nonmoving party will bear the burden of proof 10 at trial on a dispositive issue, a summary judgment motion may properly be made in reliance 11 solely on the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file.” Id. at 12 324 (internal quotation marks omitted). Indeed, summary judgment should be entered against a 13 party who does not make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to 14 that party’s case, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial. 15 If the moving party meets its initial responsibility, the burden then shifts to the opposing 16 party to establish that a genuine issue as to any material fact does exist. Matsushita Elec. Indus. 17 Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 585–87 (1986); First Nat’l Bank of Ariz. v. Cities Serv. 18 Co., 391 U.S. 253, 288–89 (1968). In attempting to establish the existence of this factual dispute, 19 the opposing party may not rely upon the denials of its pleadings, but is required to tender 20 evidence of specific facts in the form of affidavits, and/or admissible discovery material, in 21 support of its contention that the dispute exists. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c). The opposing party must 22 demonstrate that the fact in contention is material, i.e., a fact that might affect the outcome of the 23 suit under the governing law, Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248 (1986), and that 24 the dispute is genuine, i.e., the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for 25 the nonmoving party. Id. at 251–52. 26 In the endeavor to establish the existence of a factual dispute, the opposing party need not 27 establish a material issue of fact conclusively in its favor. It is sufficient that “the claimed factual 28 dispute be shown to require a jury or judge to resolve the parties’ differing versions of the truth at 1 trial.” First Nat’l Bank of Ariz., 391 U.S. at 288–89. Thus, the “purpose of summary judgment is 2 to ‘pierce the pleadings and to assess the proof in order to see whether there is a genuine need for 3 trial.’” Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., 475 U.S. at 587 (quoting Rule 56(e) advisory committee’s 4 note on 1963 amendments). 5 In resolving the summary judgment motion, the court examines the pleadings, depositions, 6 answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with any applicable affidavits. Fed. 7 R. Civ. P. 56(c); SEC v. Seaboard Corp., 677 F.2d 1301, 1305–06 (9th Cir. 1982). The evidence 8 of the opposing party is to be believed and all reasonable inferences that may be drawn from the 9 facts pleaded before the court must be drawn in favor of the opposing party. Anderson, 477 U.S. 10 at 255.

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Bluebook (online)
Geffen v. Westin Monache Resort, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/geffen-v-westin-monache-resort-caed-2021.