Strojnik v. Woodside Hotel Group LTD

District Court, N.D. California·Decided April 2, 2021·No. 5:20-cv-03204·Unknown

Opinion

PETER STROJNIK, Case No. 20-cv-03204-BLF

Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO DISMISS FIRST AMENDED v. COMPLAINT WITH LEAVE TO AMEND [Re: ECF 21] Defendant.

Plaintiff Peter Strojnik (“Plaintiff” or “Strojnik”), representing himself pro se, alleges that Defendant Woodside Hotel Group, LTD (“Defendant”), dba Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa (the “Hotel”) located in Monterey, California, violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), the California Unruh Civil Rights Act (“Unruh Act”), and the California Disabled Persons Act (“DPA”) and is liable for negligence. Plaintiff alleges that he personally visited the Hotel and encountered accessibility barriers, denying him full and equal access to the public accommodation and enjoyment of the Hotel. Compl., ECF 1 ¶¶ 10-12; First Am. Compl. (“FAC”), ECF 11 ¶¶ 25- 27, 30, 36, 42-45. Defendant now seeks to dismiss all claims in the FAC pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and (6). See Mot., ECF 21. Plaintiff filed an opposition to the motion. See Opp’n, ECF 22. Defendant filed a reply to Plaintiff’s opposition brief. See Reply, ECF 27. After considering the parties’ submissions, the case file, and relevant law, the Court GRANTS Defendant’s motion to dismiss WITH LEAVE TO AMEND for the reasons that follow. I. BACKGROUND A. Factual Allegations impairment, renal cancer, severe right-sided neural foraminal stenosis with symptoms of femoral neuropathy, missing right knee ameliorated with a prosthesis, limitation on the use of both shoulders, elbows and wrists, pleurisy, hyper blood pressure” that “limit major life activities” including “walking, standing, sitting, bending, sleeping, working, performing manual tasks, reaching, grasping, lifting, climbing, kicking, pushing, opening doors, twisting the wrist, shoulder and elbows, working or performing any physical activity whatsoever.” FAC ¶¶ 8, 14-15, 17. According to Plaintiff, his disabilities require “the use of lodging facilities that are accessible to him and have the standard accessibility features of the construction related accessibility standards…” Id. ¶ 18. The “actual, physical or architectural barriers to accessibility” at Defendant’s Hotel caused Plaintiff “discomfort and pain when using, negotiating, overcoming or otherwise encountering such barriers.” Id. ¶ 24. Plaintiff contends that he lodged at the Hotel on or about September 26-27, 2019 and encountered allegedly inaccessible barriers, such as the valet, concierge counter, check-in counter, staircase, and seating areas. Id. ¶¶ 13, 25. The FAC includes photographs of each barrier and a description of each barrier and how it affected Plaintiff’s impairments as to deny him the full and equal access and enjoyment of the Hotel. Id. ¶¶ 25-26. Plaintiff alleges that he intends to visit the Hotel again, but is deterred from doing so by the Hotel’s non-compliance with the ADA. Id. ¶ 13. Plaintiff further alleges that he intends to revisit the Hotel when the non-compliance is cured. Id. B. Procedural History On May 11, 2020, Plaintiff filed the Complaint, alleging violations of (1) the ADA, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq.; (2) the Unruh Act, California Civil Code §§ 51, 52; (3) the DPA; and (4) negligence. Compl. ¶ 1. On June 1, 2020, the Court declared Strojnik a vexatious litigant. See Strojnik v. IA Lodging Napa First LLC, No. 19-CV-03983-DMR, 2020 WL 2838814 (N.D. Cal. June 1, 2020). As part of this declaration, the Court ordered that “[i]f Strojnik wishes to file a complaint, he must provide a copy of such complaint, a letter requesting that the complaint be filed, and a copy of this order to the Clerk of the Court.” Id. at *13. On June 8, 2020, Defendant moved to dismiss the Complaint. See Mot. to Dismiss Compl., ECF 10. On June 11, 2020, Court terminated Defendant’s motion to dismiss the original complaint as moot. See Order Terminating Mot., ECF 15. Now before the Court is Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss the FAC under Rule 12(b)(1) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and under Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim. See Mot., ECF 21. A. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1): Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction Federal courts can adjudicate only those cases which the Constitution and Congress authorize them to adjudicate: those involving diversity of citizenship or a federal question, or those to which the United States is a party. Johnson v. Otter, No. 18-CV-01689-BLF, 2019 WL 452040, at *1–2 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 5, 2019); see Mims v. Arrow Fin. Servs., LLC, 565 U.S. 368, 376–77 (2012); see also Chen-Cheng Wang ex rel. United States v. FMC Corp., 975 F.2d 1412, 1415 (9th Cir. 1992) (“Federal courts have no power to consider claims for which they lack subject-matter jurisdiction.”). The plaintiff bears the burden of establishing subject matter jurisdiction. Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins., 511 U.S. 375, 377 (1994). A jurisdictional challenge may be facial or factual. Safe Air for Everyone v. Meyer, 373 F.3d 1035, 1039 (9th Cir. 2004). Where the attack is facial, the Court determines whether the allegations contained in the complaint are sufficient on their face to invoke federal jurisdiction, accepting all material allegations in the complaint as true and construing them in favor of the party asserting jurisdiction. Id.; see also Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 501 (1975). Where the attack is factual, however, “the court need not presume the truthfulness of the plaintiff's allegations.” Safe Air for Everyone, 373 F.3d at 1039. In resolving a factual dispute as to the existence of subject matter jurisdiction, the Court may review extrinsic evidence beyond the complaint without converting a motion to dismiss into one for summary judgment. Id. Once the moving party has made a factual challenge by offering affidavits or other evidence to dispute the allegations in the complaint, the party opposing the motion must “present affidavits or any other evidence necessary to satisfy its burden of establishing that the court, in fact, possesses subject matter jurisdiction.” St. Clair v. City of Chico, 880 F.2d 199, 201 (9th Cir. 1989); see also Savage v. Glendale Union High In the instant motion, Defendant contends Plaintiff lacks Article III standing, which “is a necessary component of subject matter jurisdiction.” In re Palmdale Hills Prop., LLC, 654 F.3d 868, 873 (9th Cir. 2011). The Supreme Court has repeatedly stated that the “irreducible constitutional minimum of standing” consists of three elements. Lujan v. Defs. of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560 (1992). “The plaintiff must have (1) suffered an injury in fact, (2) that is fairly traceable to the challenged conduct of the defendant, and (3) that is likely to be redressed by a favorable judicial decision.” Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 136 S. Ct. 1540, 1547 (2016). These elements are often referred to as injury in fact, causation, and redressability. See Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington & N. Idaho v. U.S. Dep’t of Health & Human Servs., 946 F.3d 1100, 1108 (9th Cir. 2020). Strojnik, as the party invoking federal jurisdiction, bears the burden of establishing the existence of Article III standing and at the pleading stage “must clearly allege fac

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