Johnson v. Kohanbash Century Plaza, LLC

District Court, E.D. California·Decided August 6, 2019·No. 2:15-cv-02484·Unknown

Opinion

SCOTT JOHNSON, No. 2:15-cv-2484-KJM-EFB Plaintiff, v. ORDER a California Limited Liability Company; JOSE CARDENAS; MONICA SAAVEDRA; and MARCO A. NAJERA, Defendants. Plaintiff Scott Johnson brings this action against defendants Kohanbash Century Plaza, LLC (“Kohanbash”), Jose Cardenas, Monica Saavedra and Marco A. Najera, alleging that two businesses, Tocumbo #2 (“Tocumbo”) and Tierra Caliente Restaurant Y Taqueria (“Tierra Caliente”), contain barriers to access in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Compl., ECF No 1. Plaintiff seeks injunctive relief under the ADA and statutory damages under California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act (“Unruh Act”). Plaintiff moves for summary judgment. Mot., ECF No. 34; Mem., ECF No. 34-1. In response, defendants filed a statement of non-opposition. ECF No. 37. The court submitted the motion without a hearing. As explained below, the court GRANTS plaintiff’s motion. /// A. Factual Background Plaintiff filed a statement of undisputed facts. See ECF No. 34-2. Defendants neither filed a statement of alternative facts nor responded specifically to plaintiff’s statement of facts. The court treats each listed fact as undisputed unless otherwise stated. Plaintiff is a quadriplegic. Johnson Decl. ¶ 2, ECF No. 34-6. He cannot walk and has significant manual dexterity impairments. Id. Plaintiff uses a wheelchair for mobility and drives a specially equipped van with a lift that deploys from the passenger side of the van to accommodate his wheelchair. Id. On November 21, 2014, December 4, 2014, December 17, 2014, January 19, 2015 and October 22, 2015, plaintiff visited and purchased food at Tocumbo, an ice cream shop, and Tierra Caliente, a restaurant, both located in Stockton, California. Id. ¶¶ 4, 24; Johnson Receipts, ECF Nos. 34-7, 34-8. Defendant Jose Cardenas was the owner and operator of Tocumbo in November and December 2014, and defendant Monica Saavedra has been the owner and operator of Tocumbo since January 2015. Pl.’s Statement of Undisputed Facts (“SUF”) ¶¶ 6–7. Defendant Marco A. Najera is the owner and operator of Tierra Caliente. Id. ¶ 8. Both restaurants operate on real property owned by defendant Kohanbash. Id. ¶ 5. According to plaintiff, on each of his visits to Tocumbo and Tierra Caliente, defendants did not provide and maintain van-accessible parking for persons with disabilities as required by the ADA. Johnson Decl. ¶¶ 6, 27. Specifically, the parking stalls and access aisles for use by persons with disabilities were not level with each other, resulting in slopes and cross slopes, which plaintiff asserts cause his wheelchair to tip in different directions and make it difficult to exit his van safely. Id. ¶¶ 7–10, 28–31. Because he determined he could not safely park in the designated van-accessible parking at Tocumbo and Tierra Caliente, plaintiff had to park in a non-disabled parking space and leave his van lift deployed to avoid getting his van blocked by a neighboring car. Id. ¶¶ 11, 32. When plaintiff parked and exited his vehicle, he found the paths of travel from the parking lot to the entrances of Tocumbo and Tierra Caliente were too narrow to navigate with his wheelchair. Id. ¶¶ 13, 34. Additionally, the path of travel from the parking lot to the entrance of Tocumbo provided a hinge-side approach to an outward-opening swinging door, which did not provide the required width for wheelchair users. Id. ¶ 14. Once inside Tocumbo and Tierra Caliente, plaintiff discovered the transaction counters were too high for him to use independently and neither business provided a lowered counter. Id. ¶¶ 15–16, 35–36. Plaintiff also claims he encountered barriers to access when he attempted to use the restroom at both Tocumbo and Tierra Caliente. Id. ¶¶ 17–23, 37–40. At Tocumbo, plaintiff had difficulty reaching the restroom because the path of travel was too narrow for him to navigate with his wheelchair. Id. ¶ 17. When plaintiff attempted to open the restroom door at Tocumbo, he discovered that the door hardware was a traditional-style knob requiring tight grasping and twisting of the wrist to operate, which is difficult for plaintiff because of his manual dexterity issues. Id. ¶¶ 19–20. Inside the restroom, plaintiff found the mirror on the wall and the sink were mounted too high for him to see his reflection and easily wash his hands. Id. ¶¶ 21–23. At Tierra Caliente, the restroom doorway’s clear passage width was not wide enough for plaintiff’s wheelchair and the wall mirror was mounted too high for plaintiff to see his reflection. Id. ¶¶ 38– 39. Finally, at both Tocumbo and Tierra Caliente the restrooms did not display the International Symbol of Accessibility. Id. ¶¶ 18, 40. Plaintiff says that all of these access barriers at both businesses caused him “difficulty, discomfort, and frustration.” Id. ¶ 41. An investigator hired by plaintiff, Jon Meyers, visited Tocumbo and Tierra Caliente on February 27, 2015. Gunderson Decl. ¶¶ 8–9, ECF No. 34-5; Meyers Notes Tocumbo, ECF No. 34-17; Meyers Notes Tierra Caliente, ECF No. 34-18. Meyers measured the transaction counter at Tocumbo to be forty-one inches high and the transaction counter at Tierra Caliente to be forty-two inches high. Meyers Notes Tocumbo; Meyers Notes Tierra Caliente. In the restroom at Tocumbo, Meyers measured the height of the bottom edge of the mirror to be fifty-one inches above the floor and the height of the sink to be thirty-six inches above the floor. Meyers Notes Tocumbo. Meyers measured the height of the bottom edge of the mirror in the restroom at Tierra Caliente to be forty-nine inches above the floor. Meyers Notes Tierra Caliente. He found the width of the restroom door there to be thirty-four inches. Id. On June 5, 2018, Gary Waters, plaintiff’s expert, conducted a site inspection of Tocumbo and Tierra Caliente. Waters Decl. ¶¶ 5–9, ECF No. 34-11. Mr. Waters’s September 17, 2018 report concluded that several access violations exist at Tocumbo and Tierra Caliente, including noncompliant accessible parking due to excessive slopes and inappropriate signage and access aisle marking, as well as inaccessible exterior paths of travel due to insufficient width and excessive slopes. Waters Report at 4–9, ECF No. 34-12. Plaintiff indicates he has visited Stockton to shop, eat and stay overnight on a number of occasions over the past two years and plans to continue to do so in the future. Johnson Decl. ¶ 46. Tocumbo and Tierra Caliente are conveniently located for him and he enjoys eating the food served at both establishments. Id. ¶ 47. Plaintiff says he would like to patronize Tocumbo and Tierra Caliente in the future, when the violations have been remedied. Id. ¶ 48. B. Procedural Background Plaintiff filed this action on December 1, 2015, asserting claims for violations of the ADA, 42 U.S.C. § 12101, et seq., and the Unruh Act, Cal. Civ. Code §§ 51–53. ECF No. 1. Defendants answered on January 14, 2016. ECF No. 8. Plaintiff filed the instant motion for summary judgment on November 9, 2018. ECF No. 34. Plaintiff seeks injunctive relief ordering defendants to make their businesses readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities to the extent required by the ADA. Mem. at 16–17. He also seeks $8,000 in statutory damages under the Unruh Act, $4,000 each for violations at Tocumbo and Tierra Caliente. Id. at 18. A court will grant summary judgment “if . . . there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). The “threshold inquiry” is whether “there are any genuine factual issues that properly can be resolved only by a finder of fact because they may reasonably be resolved in favor of either party.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.,

Johnson v. Kohanbash Century Plaza, LLC, (E.D. Cal. 2019).

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