Langer v. The Pep Boys Manny Moe & Jack of California

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedJanuary 15, 2021
Docket4:20-cv-06015
StatusUnknown

This text of Langer v. The Pep Boys Manny Moe & Jack of California (Langer v. The Pep Boys Manny Moe & Jack of California) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.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. The Pep Boys Manny Moe & Jack of California, (N.D. Cal. 2021).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 CHRIS LANGER, 7 Case No. 20-cv-06015-DMR Plaintiff, 8 v. ORDER ON DEFENDANT'S MOTION 9 TO DISMISS THE PEP BOYS MANNY MOE & JACK 10 OF CALIFORNIA, Re: Dkt. No. 20 11 Defendant.

12 Plaintiff Chris Langer filed this action on August 26, 2020, alleging violations of Title III of 13 the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), 42 U.S.C. § 12181 et seq. and the California Unruh 14 Civil Rights Act, Cal. Civ. Code §§ 51-53, against Defendant Pep Boys Manny Moe & Jack of 15 California (“Pep Boys”). [Docket No. 5.] Plaintiff filed an amended complaint on November 12, 16 2020. [Docket No. 17 (“FAC”).] Pep Boys moves to dismiss the FAC under Federal Rules of Civil 17 Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6). [Docket No. 20 (“Mot.”), 22 (“Reply”).] Langer opposes. 18 [Docket No. 21 (“Opp.”).] This matter is suitable for determination without oral argument pursuant 19 to Civil Local Rule 7-1(b). 20 For the reasons stated below, the motion is granted. 21 I. BACKGROUND 22 The following facts are alleged in the complaint and taken from the evidence submitted in 23 support of this motion. Langer suffers substantial and permanent partial hearing loss. FAC ¶¶ 1, 10. 24 He uses a variety of assistive devices, including hearing aids and headphones, but he still does not 25 receive “complete aural communication.” Id. ¶ 1. Thus, he relies on subtitles and closed captioning 26 while watching videos. Id. ¶¶ 1, 11. 27 1 Pep Boys is an “automotive aftermarket retail and services chain.” [Docket No. 20-1, 2 Declaration of Gregory J. Russ (“Russ Decl.”) ¶ 5.] It sells tires and auto parts, repairs vehicles, 3 and provides expert advice. Id. Pep Boys own and operate the Pep Boys website, which is available 4 at https://www.pepboys.com. FAC ¶ 4. It also operates physical locations in California. Id. ¶ 12. 5 Pep Boys offers videos on its website for various purposes, such as providing information 6 and inducing customers to purchase its products. FAC ¶ 13. Langer alleges that he was a 7 prospective customer seeking to access Pep Boy’s goods and services. Id. ¶ 14. He visited Pep 8 Boys’ website in August 2020 to “confirm the business was open and look for information about 9 the company and its products.” Id. ¶ 15. When he tried to view video content on the Website, he 10 found that the videos did not have subtitles, which made him unable to fully understand the contents 11 of the videos. Id. ¶ 16. One such video was titled “Need help making an appointment.” Id. ¶ 17. 12 Langer alleges that he was deterred from further use of the website due to the lack of auxiliary aids 13 and that he was therefore denied the full use and enjoyment of Pep Boys facilities, goods, and 14 services. Id. ¶¶ 18, 19. 15 Langer alleges that Pep Boys’ failure to provide subtitles on its video content constitutes a 16 violation of the ADA and California’s Unruh Act, Cal. Civ. Code § 51-53. 17 II. LEGAL STANDARDS FOR MOTIONS TO DISMISS 18 A. Rule 12(b)(1) 19 A motion to dismiss filed pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) is a challenge to the court’s subject 20 matter jurisdiction. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1). A court will dismiss a party’s claim for lack of 21 subject matter jurisdiction “only when the claim is so insubstantial, implausible, foreclosed by prior 22 decisions of th[e Supreme] Court, or otherwise completely devoid of merit as not to involve a federal 23 controversy.” Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Env’t, 523 U.S. 83, 89 (1998) (citation and quotation 24 marks omitted); see Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1). When reviewing a 12(b)(1) motion, the court sculpts 25 its approach according to whether the motion is “facial or factual.” White v. Lee, 227 F.3d 1214, 26 1242 (9th Cir. 2000). A facial challenge asserts that “the allegations contained in a complaint are 27 insufficient on their face to invoke federal jurisdiction.” Safe Air for Everyone v. Meyer, 373 F.3d 1 exist, independent of what is stated in the complaint. White, 227 F.3d at 1242. In contrast with a 2 facial challenge, a factual challenge permits the court to look beyond the complaint, without 3 “presum[ing] the truthfulness of the plaintiff’s allegations.” Id. (citation omitted). Even the 4 presence of disputed material facts “will not preclude the trial court from evaluating for itself the 5 merits of jurisdictional claims.” Roberts v. Corrothers, 812 F.2d 1173, 1177 (9th Cir. 1987) 6 (citations omitted). Once the moving party has made a factual challenge by offering affidavits or 7 other evidence to dispute the allegations in the complaint, the non-moving party must “present 8 affidavits or any other evidence necessary to satisfy its burden of establishing that the court, in fact, 9 possesses subject matter jurisdiction.” St. Clair v. City of Chico, 880 F.2d 199, 201 (9th Cir. 1989). 10 B. Rule 12(b)(6) 11 A motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) tests the legal sufficiency of the claims alleged in 12 the complaint. See Parks Sch. of Bus., Inc. v. Symington, 51 F.3d 1480, 1484 (9th Cir. 1995). When 13 reviewing a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, the court must “accept as true all of the 14 factual allegations contained in the complaint,” Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94 (2007) (per 15 curiam) (citation omitted), and may dismiss a claim “only where there is no cognizable legal theory” 16 or there is an absence of “sufficient factual matter to state a facially plausible claim to relief.” 17 Shroyer v. New Cingular Wireless Servs., Inc., 622 F.3d 1035, 1041 (9th Cir. 2010) (citing Ashcroft 18 v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 677-78 (2009); Navarro v. Block, 250 F.3d 729, 732 (9th Cir. 2001)) 19 (quotation marks omitted). A claim has facial plausibility when a plaintiff “pleads factual content 20 that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct 21 alleged.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678 (citation omitted). In other words, the facts alleged must 22 demonstrate “more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause 23 of action will not do.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 554, 555 (2007) (citing Papasan v. 24 Allain, 478 U.S. 265, 286 (1986)); see Lee v. City of L.A., 250 F.3d 668, 679 (9th Cir. 2001), 25 overruled on other grounds by Galbraith v. Cty. of Santa Clara, 307 F.3d 1119 (9th Cir. 2002). 26 As a general rule, a court may not consider “any material beyond the pleadings” when ruling 27 on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion. Lee, 250 F.3d at 688 (citation and quotation marks omitted). However, 1 Beer Distrib., 798 F.2d 1279, 1282 (9th Cir.

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Langer v. The Pep Boys Manny Moe & Jack of California, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/langer-v-the-pep-boys-manny-moe-jack-of-california-cand-2021.