Johnson v. 12 N Park Victoria LLC

District Court, N.D. California·Decided August 2, 2021·No. 3:20-cv-02200·Unknown

Opinion

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA SAN JOSE DIVISION

SCOTT JOHNSON, Case No. 20-CV-02200-LHK

Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART MOTION FOR v. DEFAULT JUDGMENT

12 N PARK VICTORIA LLC, and JALAL KHALILZADEH, Defendants.

Plaintiff Scott Johnson filed this action for violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and California Unruh Civil Rights Act (“UCRA”). ECF No. 1 (“Compl.”). Before the Court is Plaintiff Scott Johnson’s (“Plaintiff”) motion for default judgment against Defendants 12 N Park Victoria LLC and Jalal Khalilzadeh (“Khalilzadeh”) (collectively, “Defendants”). ECF No. 17.1 Having considered Plaintiff’s submissions, the relevant law, and the record in this case, the Court GRANTS in part and DENIES in part Plaintiff’s motion for default judgment. I. BACKGROUND A. Factual Background

1 Plaintiff’s motion for default judgment contains a notice of motion that is contained in a separate document from the points and authorities in support of the motion. ECF No. 17, at 1. Civil Local Rule 7-2(b) provides that the notice of motion and points and authorities must be contained in one document with the same pagination. Plaintiff, a resident of California, is a level C-5 quadriplegic. Compl. at ¶ 1. Plaintiff uses a wheelchair for mobility because he cannot walk and drives a specially equipped van for transportation. Id. Plaintiff alleges that in June of 2019, October of 2019, and January of 2020, he visited the Shell Gas Station owned by Defendants in Milpitas, California (“Shell Gas Station”). Id. at ¶¶ 10, 3–5. Plaintiff alleges that the Shell Gas Station is “a facility open to the public, a place of public accommodation, and a business establishment.” Id. at ¶ 11. Plaintiff alleges that Defendant 12 N Park Victoria LLC owns the real property at the location of the Shell Gas Station, and that Defendant Khalilzadeh owns the Shell Gas Station. Id. at ¶ 3, 5. Plaintiff alleges that on each of the dates that Plaintiff visited the Shell Gas Station, Defendants (1) “failed to provide wheelchair accessible parking in conformance with the ADA Standards”; (2) “failed to provide wheelchair accessible sales counters in conformance with the ADA Standards”; and (3) “failed to provide wheelchair accessible paths of travel inside the Gas Station store in conformance with the ADA Standards.” Id. at ¶ 12, 14, 16. Plaintiff alleges that he personally encountered these barriers, and that “[b]y failing to provide accessible facilities, the defendants denied the plaintiff full and equal access.” Id. at ¶ 19. Plaintiff further states that an investigator working for Plaintiff’s counsel was sent to investigate Plaintiff’s claim that the Shell Gas Station lacked wheelchair accessible parking spaces, a wheelchair accessible sales counter, and wheelchair accessible paths of travel inside the Shell Gas Station. Mot. at 2. The investigator visited the Shell Gas Station on March 9, 2020 and confirmed that “defendants failed to provide wheelchair accessible parking spaces, wheelchair accessible sales counter and wheelchair accessible paths of travel inside the Gas Station store.” Id. B. Procedural History On April 1, 2020, Plaintiff filed the instant case against Defendants. Compl. at 1. Plaintiff brings two claims against Defendants: (1) violation of the ADA, 42 U.S.C. § 12101, et seq.; and (2) violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act (“UCRA”), Cal. Civ. Code § 51 et seq. Id. at ¶¶ 25– 40. On May 27, 2020, Plaintiff filed a Summons Returned for 12 N Park Victoria LLC. ECF No. 10. On June 2, 2020, Plaintiff filed a Summons Returned for Khalilzadeh. ECF No. 11. Neither Defendant has appeared in this case. On June 16, 2020, Plaintiff filed a motion for entry of default as to 12 N Park Victoria LLC. ECF No. 12. On June 17, 2020, the Clerk of Court entered default against 12 N Park Victoria LLC. ECF No. 13. On June 29, 2020, Plaintiff filed a motion for entry of default as to Khalilzadeh. ECF No. 14. On June 30, 2020, the Clerk of Court entered default against Khalilzadeh. ECF No. 15. On February 18, 2021, Plaintiff filed the instant motion for default judgment against both Defendants. ECF No. 17 (“Mot.”). Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 55(b)(2), the Court may enter a default judgment when the Clerk, under Rule 55(a), has previously entered a party’s default. Fed. R. Civ. P. 55(b). “The district court’s decision whether to enter a default judgment is a discretionary one.” Aldabe v. Aldabe, 616 F.2d 1089, 1092 (9th Cir. 1980). Once the Clerk enters default, all well- pleaded allegations regarding liability are taken as true, except with respect to damages. See Fair Hous. of Marin v. Combs, 285 F.3d 899, 906 (9th Cir. 2002) (“With respect to the determination of liability and the default judgment itself, the general rule is that well-pled allegations in the complaint regarding liability are deemed true.”); TeleVideo Sys. v. Heidenthal, 826 F.2d 915, 917– 18 (9th Cir. 1987) (“[U]pon default the factual allegations of the complaint, except those relating to the amount of damages, will be taken as true.”); Philip Morris USA v. Castworld Prods., 219 F.R.D. 494, 499 (C.D. Cal. 2003) (“[B]y defaulting, Defendant is deemed to have admitted the truth of Plaintiff's averments.”). “In applying this discretionary standard, default judgments are more often granted than denied.” Philip Morris, 219 F.R.D. at 498. “Factors which may be considered by courts in exercising discretion as to the entry of a default judgment include: (1) the possibility of prejudice to the plaintiff, (2) the merits of plaintiff’s substantive claim, (3) the sufficiency of the complaint, (4) the sum of money at stake in the action; (5) the possibility of a dispute concerning material facts; (6) whether the default was due to excusable neglect, and (7) the strong policy underlying the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure favoring decisions on the merits.” Eitel v. McCool, 782 F.2d 1470, 1471–72 (9th Cir. 1986). A. Jurisdiction “When entry of judgment is sought against a party who has failed to plead or otherwise defend, a district court has an affirmative duty to look into its jurisdiction over both the subject matter and the parties. A judgment entered without personal jurisdiction over the parties is void.” In re Tuli, 172 F.3d 707, 712 (9th Cir. 1999) (citations omitted). In order to avoid the entry of an order of default judgment that may subsequently be attacked as void, the Court must first determine whether jurisdiction over the instant case exists. The Court begins with subject matter jurisdiction and then proceeds to personal jurisdiction. Finally, for the Court to exercise personal jurisdiction over a defendant, the defendant must also have been served in accordance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4. Accordingly, the Court then turns

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