Oscar Ramos v. Esperanza Garcia, et al.

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedMarch 11, 2026
Docket2:24-cv-02921
StatusUnknown

This text of Oscar Ramos v. Esperanza Garcia, et al. (Oscar Ramos v. Esperanza Garcia, et al.) 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
Oscar Ramos v. Esperanza Garcia, et al., (E.D. Cal. 2026).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 OSCAR RAMOS, No. 2:24-cv-2921-DAD-SCR 12 Plaintiff, 13 FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS v. 14 ESPERANZA GARCIA, et al., 15 16 Defendants. 17 18 Plaintiff Oscar Ramos’ motion for a default judgment (ECF No. 14) was heard before the 19 undersigned on April 24, 2025. No appearance was made by a Defendant or on their behalf. The 20 motion for default judgment is before the undersigned pursuant to Local Rule 302(c)(19). The 21 Court hereby recommends that the motion be granted. 22 BACKGROUND 23 Plaintiff initiated this matter by filing a complaint on October 22, 2024. ECF No. 1. 24 Plaintiff alleges that he is a person with a disability who “has no legs due to a catastrophic 25 accident” and uses a wheelchair. ECF No. 1 at ¶ 6. Defendants are Esperanza Garcia and Elva 26 Patino Franco who operate the business Taqueria Los Altenos (the “Business”) and Zafar Iqbal 27 and Ishrat Begum who own the real property where the Business is located. Id. at ¶ 3. Plaintiff 28 alleges that he visited the Business on or about February 16, 2024 and September 25, 2024, for 1 the purpose of buying food and drink and that Defendants interfered with his access to the 2 Business. Id. at ¶ 12. Plaintiff lives in Fairfield, California, approximately two miles from where 3 the Business is located and routinely travels through the area and plans to return to the Business 4 when the Business is made accessible. Id. at ¶ 14. 5 Plaintiff alleges he encountered various barriers to access, including that the Business did 6 not have a properly designated disabled-accessible parking space. Id. at ¶ 4(a). Plaintiff alleges 7 there was not a clearly marked access aisle from the parking lot. Id. Inside the Business, Plaintiff 8 alleges the restroom was not accessible for users of wheelchairs. Id. at ¶ 4(b). Plaintiff alleges 9 the paper towel dispenser was too high; toilet paper dispenser in the wrong location; and that the 10 turning area was too small and had some furniture blocking it. Id. As a result, Plaintiff alleges 11 he: “could not get onto or off the toilet due to defective grab bars. He had to stretch to reach the 12 paper, and hand dryer, causing him pain. He had difficulty maneuvering due to furniture 13 blocking. To flush the toilet, he had to strain to rech [sic] over.” Id. Plaintiff contends the 14 parking issues could be addressed by new painting and signage for a cost of likely less than 15 $2,000, and that the cost of remedying the bathroom issues would probably be about $5,000. Id. 16 at ¶ 5. 17 Plaintiff’s complaint alleges four causes of action: 1) violation of the ADA; 2) violation of 18 California Health and Safety Code §§ 19955 et seq.; 3) violation of California’s Civil Rights 19 Acts; and 4) violation of California’s Unruh Act. Plaintiff seeks injunctive relief, statutory 20 damages under California law, and litigation costs and fees. ECF No. 1 at 22. 21 Proof of service of process on the four Defendants was filed on November 29, 2024. ECF 22 No. 9. Plaintiff filed a request for entry of default (ECF No. 10) on January 13, 2025. The 23 request was supported by the Declaration of counsel, Richard MacBride, which averred that all 24 four Defendants had been served. On January 23, 2025, the Clerk entered default (ECF No. 11). 25 On March 11, 2025, Plaintiff filed a motion for default judgment. ECF No. 14. Plaintiff seeks 26 $8,000 in statutory damages, attorney fees of $2,555, costs of $2,239.85, and injunctive relief. 27 ECF No. 14-2 at 22. The motion for default judgment states that it was served on Defendants. 28 ///// 1 ECF No. 14-3. The matter was heard on April 24, 2025, and no appearance was made by any 2 Defendant or on their behalf. 3 LEGAL STANDARDS 4 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 55(b)(2) governs applications to the court for default 5 judgment. Upon entry of default, the complaint’s factual allegations regarding liability are taken 6 as true, while allegations regarding the amount of damages must be proven. Dundee Cement Co. 7 v. Howard Pipe & Concrete Prods., 722 F.2d 1319, 1323 (7th Cir. 1983) (citing Pope v. United 8 States, 323 U.S. 1 (1944); Geddes v. United Fin. Group, 559 F.2d 557 (9th Cir. 1977)); see also 9 DirectTV v. Huynh, 503 F.3d 847, 851 (9th Cir. 2007); TeleVideo Sys., Inc. v. Heidenthal, 10 826 F.2d 915, 917-18 (9th Cir. 1987). 11 Where damages are liquidated, i.e., capable of ascertainment from definite figures 12 contained in documentary evidence or in detailed affidavits, judgment by default may be entered 13 without a damages hearing. Dundee, 722 F.2d at 1323. Unliquidated and punitive damages, 14 however, require “proving up” at an evidentiary hearing or through other means. Dundee, 15 722 F.2d at 1323-24; see also James v. Frame, 6 F.3d 307, 310-11 (5th Cir. 1993). 16 Granting or denying default judgment is within the court’s sound discretion. Draper v. 17 Coombs, 792 F.2d 915, 924-25 (9th Cir. 1986); Aldabe v. Aldabe, 616 F.2d. 1089, 1092 (9th Cir. 18 1980). The court considers a variety of factors in exercising its discretion. Eitel v. McCool, 19 782 F.2d 1470, 1471-72 (9th Cir. 1986). Among them are: 20 (1) the possibility of prejudice to the plaintiff, (2) the merits of plaintiff’s substantive claim, (3) the sufficiency of the complaint, (4) 21 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 22 excusable neglect, and (7) the strong policy underlying the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure favoring decisions on the merits. 23 24 Eitel, 782 F.2d at 1471-72 (citing 6 Moore’s Federal Practice ¶ 55-05[2], at 55-24 to 55-26). 25 ///// 26 27 ///// 28 ///// 1 ANALYSIS 2 1. The Eitel Factors Favor Entry of Default Judgment 3 a. Possibility of Prejudice to the Plaintiff 4 The first Eitel factor contemplates the possibility of prejudice to the plaintiff if a default 5 judgment is not entered. Eitel, 782 F.2d at 1471. Prejudice can be established where failure to 6 enter a default judgment would leave plaintiff without a proper remedy. Pepsico, Inc. v. Cal. Sec. 7 Cans, 238 F.Supp.2d 1172, 1177 (C.D. Cal 2002). Plaintiff argues that without entry of default 8 judgment he is without recourse for recovery or remediation of barriers. ECF No. 14 at 7-8. The 9 Court concurs that because Defendants failed to appear in this action, denial of default judgment 10 would leave Plaintiff no remedy for his injury. Accordingly, the first factor weighs in favor of 11 default judgment. 12 b. Merits of Plaintiff’s Substantive Claims and Sufficiency of the Complaint 13 The second and third Eitel factors jointly examine whether the plaintiff has pleaded facts 14 sufficient to establish and succeed upon its claims. Pepsico, Inc., 238 F.Supp.2d at 1175 (citing 15 Kleopping v. Fireman’s Fund, 1996 WL 75314, at *2 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 14, 1996)). Plaintiff seeks 16 relief under both state and federal law.

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Oscar Ramos v. Esperanza Garcia, et al., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oscar-ramos-v-esperanza-garcia-et-al-caed-2026.