Langer v. Nenow

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedFebruary 10, 2020
Docket3:18-cv-01670
StatusUnknown

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

Bluebook
Langer v. Nenow, (S.D. Cal. 2020).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 Chris Langer, Case No.: 18-cv-01670-GPC-BGS

12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ 13 v. MOTION TO DISMISS AND DISMISSING PLAINTIFF’S 14 Nancy L. Nenow and Does 1-10, MOTION FOR SUMMARY 15 Defendants. JUDGMENT AS MOOT.

16 [ECF No. 16, 18.] 17 Before the Court are two motions. First, Defendants1 have filed a motion to 18 dismiss Plaintiff’s first cause of action arising under the Americans with Disabilities Act, 19 42 U.S.C. § 12101, et seq., as moot and to dismiss Plaintiff’s second cause of action 20 arising under California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, Cal. Civ. Code §§ 51–53, for lack of 21 supplemental jurisdiction. (ECF No. 18.) Second, Plaintiff has filed motion for summary 22 judgment on both causes of action. (ECF No. 16.) 23 24

25 1 W.K.S. Frosty Corporation (“WKS”), as Defendant Nancy L. Nenow’s lessee, attests that it is 26 responsible to maintain the Restaurant and its property, and to indemnify Defendant Nenow in litigation. (ECF No. 18-4, Feinour Decl. at ¶ 3.) Thus, the Court refers to Defendant Nenow and WKS collectively 27 1 For the foregoing reasons, the Court GRANTS Defendants’ motion in full, and 2 thus DISMISSES Plaintiff’s motion as moot. 3 I. Background 4 Plaintiff Chris Langer (“Plaintiff”) is a paraplegic who cannot walk and who uses a 5 wheelchair for mobility. (ECF No. 16-4, Langer Decl. at ¶ 2.) He has a specially 6 equipped van with a ramp that deploys from the passenger side to accommodate his 7 wheelchair. (Id. at ¶ 3.) 8 On April 10, 2018, Plaintiff went to a Wendy’s located at 1111 Camino del Rio 9 South, San Diego, California (the “Restaurant”) to eat and use the restroom. (Id. at ¶ 5.) 10 The Restaurant is located less than ten minutes from Plaintiff’s home and is a convenient 11 place for him to eat. (Id. at ¶ 11.) Upon arriving, Plaintiff observed approximately thirty 12 parking spaces in the Restaurant’s parking lot, with only one parking stall marked and 13 reserved for persons with disabilities. (Id. at ¶ 6.) Because a car was already parked in 14 that spot, and it was too difficult for Plaintiff to park without using a space specifically 15 reserved for persons with disabilities, Plaintiff left without parking, eating, or using the 16 restroom. (Id. at ¶¶ 7–10.) 17 On July 19, 2018, an investigator for Plaintiff, Zion Sapien, investigated the 18 Restaurant. (ECF No. 16-7, Sapien Decl. ¶ 3.) Mr. Sapien counted approximately 29 19 total parking spaces available for use by the Restaurant’s customers. (Id. at ¶ 5.) Mr. 20 Sapien noted that only one space was marked as reserved for persons with disabilities. 21 (Id.; ECF No. 16-8, Photos from Sapien Investigation.) Based on his own observations, 22 and Mr. Sapien’s investigation, Plaintiff filed a complaint against Defendant Nancy L. 23 Nenow, the owner of the property located at 1111 Camino del Rio South in San Diego, 24 CA, and Does 1–10. (ECF No. 1.) 25 On December 17, 2018, Defendants hired an ADA-expert, Mr. Paul Deppe, “to 26 advise WKS with regard to the design of a new, second accessible parking stall.” (ECF 27 No. 18-4, Feinour Decl. at ¶ 4.) Defendants did so “in response to allegations within the 1 Plaintiff’s complaint.” (Id. at ¶ 4.) Defendants hired a construction company to build the 2 stall according to Mr. Deppe’s specifications. (Id. at ¶ 5.) Upon completion, Mr. Deppe 3 inspected the parking lot and issued Defendants a Certified Access Specialist (“CASp”) 4 “certificate noting that all exterior elements [of the Restaurant and parking lot] were in 5 compliance with state and federal access laws.” (Id. at ¶¶ 6–7; ECF No. 18-6, CASp 6 Certificate.) 7 In May 2019, Plaintiff’s expert, Mr. Paul Bishop, also inspected the parking lot. 8 (ECF No. 18-4, Feinour Decl. at ¶ 8.) Mr. Bishop issued a report of his inspection finding 9 that the lot was largely in compliance. (Id. at ¶ 9–10.) Mr. Bishop found two deficiencies 10 – an access aisle that was a few inches too narrow and a tow away sign that was missing 11 information. (Id. at ¶¶ 11–13.) Defendants then remedied these errors by directing an 12 employee to add the missing information to the sign on July 3, 2019 and hiring a 13 construction professional to restripe the access aisle on November 8, 2019. (Id. at ¶¶ 14– 14 17.) On November 11, 2019, Mr. Deppe returned to the Restaurant for a second 15 inspection, “found all exterior features to be compliant with state and federal access 16 regulations, and issued a CASp certificate so stating, dated Nov. 13, 2019.” (Id. at ¶¶ 18– 17 19; ECF No. 18-8, CASp Certificate.) 18 Defendants have since “instructed the Restaurant’s General Manager to inspect the 19 condition of the accessible features of the Restaurant on a regular basis, and to report 20 and/or repair any feature that requires maintenance.” (Id. at ¶ 20.) Defendants further aver 21 that “prompt action” will be taken “to ensure continued compliance with state and federal 22 accessibility regulations.” (Id.) 23 II. Legal Standards 24 A. Summary Judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (“Rule”) 56 25 “A party may move for summary judgment, identifying each claim or defense—or 26 the part of each claim or defense—on which summary judgment is sought. The court 27 shall grant summary judgment if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to 1 any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. 2 P. 56(a). A party seeking summary judgment bears the initial burden of informing the 3 court of the basis for its motion and identifying those portions of the pleadings and 4 discovery responses that demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. See 5 Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323 (1986). If the nonmoving party will have the 6 burden of proof at trial, the movant can prevail by pointing out that there is an absence of 7 evidence to support the moving party’s case. See id. If the moving party meets its initial 8 burden, the nonmoving party must set forth, by affidavit or as otherwise provided in Rule 9 56, “specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.” Anderson v. Liberty 10 Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248 (1986). 11 In judging evidence at the summary judgment stage, the court does not make 12 credibility determinations or weigh conflicting evidence. Rather, it draws all reasonable 13 inferences in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. See T.W. Elec. Serv., Inc. 14 v. Pac. Elec. Contractors Ass’n, 809 F.2d 626, 630–31 (9th Cir. 1987). The evidence 15 presented by the parties must be capable of being presented at trial in a form that would 16 be admissible in evidence. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(2). Conclusory, speculative 17 testimony in affidavits and moving papers is insufficient to raise genuine issues of fact 18 and defeat summary judgment. See Thornhill Publ'g Co. v. Gen. Tel. & Elecs. Corp., 594 19 F.2d 730, 738 (9th Cir. 1979). 20 B. Mootness2 21

22 2 Notably, Defendant moves the Court for dismissal under Rule 12(b)(1) and frames its argument as a 23 question of standing. However, Defendant “conflates the concepts of standing and mootness.” Ngoc Lam 24 Che v. San Jose/Evergreen Cmty. Coll. Dist. Found., No. 17-CV-00381-BLF, 2017 WL 2954647, at *3 (N.D. Cal. July 11, 2017).

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Langer v. Nenow, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/langer-v-nenow-casd-2020.