Tyler v. Valley MRI and Radiology, Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedJune 8, 2022
Docket2:19-cv-00651
StatusUnknown

This text of Tyler v. Valley MRI and Radiology, Inc. (Tyler v. Valley MRI and Radiology, Inc.) 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
Tyler v. Valley MRI and Radiology, Inc., (E.D. Cal. 2022).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 | Richard and Arretta Tyler, No. 2:19-cv-00651-KJM-AC 12 Plaintiffs, ORDER 13 v. Valley MRI and Radiology, Inc., et al., 1S Defendants. 16 17 Atretta Tyler moves for summary judgment of her claims that defendants Valley MRI and 18 | Radiology and Sonoma Federal LLC discriminated against her on the basis of a disability. Key 19 | factual disputes remain unresolved, so the motion is denied. 20 | I. BACKGROUND 21 Ms. Tyler has undergone several back surgeries and has trouble standing and walking. 22 | Defs.’ Resp. Stmt. Facts Nos. 1-2, ECF No. 24-1. In May 2018, she and her husband drove from 23 | their home in Woodbridge, California to Valley MRI and Radiology in Stockton, a medical 24 | facility. 7d. No. 4. Valley MRI has two parking lots. See Pls.’ Exs. at 123, ECF No. 20-4; 25 | Miyaki Decl. § 4, ECF No. 24-3. One of the parking lots has designated, accessible parking 26 | spaces; the other does not. Miyaki Decl. 4 & Exs. B-F; Pls.’ Exs. at 92-100, 124-25. The lot 27 | without accessible parking spaces is closer to Valley MRI’s entrance. See Pls.’ Exs. at 123; 28 | /////

1 Defs.’ Ex. F. The defendants chose the further lot for their accessible spaces because the closer 2 lot has a 10 percent slope in some places. See Miyaki Decl. ¶¶ 4, 8. 3 Ms. Tyler and her husband parked in the closer lot—the lot without accessible spaces—on 4 the day of their visit. Defs.’ Resp. Stmt. Facts No. 5. Ms. Tyler then fell while she was stepping 5 up onto the curb, and she was injured. See, e.g., Tyler Dep. at 37, 48–49, ECF No. 20-4. She 6 filed this lawsuit against Valley MRI and Sonoma Federal, LLC, which owns the property where 7 she fell, asserting claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Rehabilitation 8 Act, the California Disabled Persons Act, the California Unruh Civil Rights Act, the California 9 Health and Safety Code, and California common law. See generally First Am. Compl., ECF No. 10 12. 11 Ms. Tyler now moves for summary judgment on her claims under the ADA, the Disabled 12 Persons Act, and the Unruh Act. See generally Mot., ECF No. 20; Mem., ECF No. 20-1. The 13 defendants oppose the motion, Opp’n, ECF No. 24, which is now fully briefed, see Reply, ECF 14 No. 39; Surreply, ECF No. 46; see also Order (June 8, 2021), ECF No. 45 (permitting defendants 15 to file surreply to address arguments and evidence raised for first time in reply). The court 16 submitted the matter for decision without a hearing. Min. Order, ECF No. 43. 17 II. LEGAL STANDARD 18 A court may grant summary judgment “if . . . there is no genuine dispute as to any 19 material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). 20 The “threshold inquiry” is whether “there are any genuine factual issues that properly can be 21 resolved only by a finder of fact because they may reasonably be resolved in favor of either 22 party.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 250 (1986). 23 The moving party bears the initial burden of showing the district court “that there is an 24 absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party’s case.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 25 317, 325 (1986). The burden then shifts to the nonmoving party, which “must establish that there 26 is a genuine issue of material fact . . . .” Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 27 475 U.S. 574, 585 (1986). In carrying their burdens, both parties must “cit[e] to particular parts 28 of materials in the record . . . or show[] that the materials cited do not establish the absence or 1 presence of a genuine dispute, or that an adverse party cannot produce admissible evidence to 2 support the fact.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(1); see also Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 586 (“[The 3 nonmoving party] must do more than simply show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the 4 material facts.”). The court draws all inferences and views all evidence in the light most 5 favorable to the nonmoving party. Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 587–88. “Where the record taken as a 6 whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the non-moving party, there is no ‘genuine 7 issue for trial.’” Id. at 587 (quoting First Nat’l Bank of Arizona v. Cities Serv. Co., 391 U.S. 253, 8 289 (1968)). 9 III. ANALYSIS 10 The ADA prohibits discrimination in places of public accommodation. 42 U.S.C. 11 § 12182(a). To prevail on a discrimination claim based on that prohibition, Ms. Tyler must prove 12 (1) she is “disabled” under the ADA; (2) the defendants are private entities that own, lease, or 13 operate a place of public accommodation; and (3) the defendants denied accommodations to her 14 because of her disability. Lopez v. Catalina Channel Express, Inc., 974 F.3d 1030, 1033 (9th Cir. 15 2020). For purposes of this motion, the defendants do not dispute that Ms. Tyler could establish 16 the first two elements of her ADA claim. The defendants contend only that she cannot satisfy the 17 third element, i.e., proof that they denied accommodations to her because of her disability. See 18 Opp’n at 3. A few more details about the parties’ positions are necessary to understand this 19 dispute. 20 The defendants argue they accommodated Ms. Tyler by offering designated accessible 21 parking spaces in one of their parking lots. See Opp’n at 4. They acknowledge that some spaces 22 are closer to Valley MRI’s entrance than the spaces they have designated, but they argue the 23 ADA does not demand that accessible parking spaces be the closest possible spaces. See id. at 4– 24 5. Instead, the defendants contend, the ADA requires only that accessible spaces be offered along 25 the shortest “accessible” route. See id. The closer parking lot, they argue, is not “accessible” 26 because it is sloped too steeply. See id. Ms. Tyler disagrees. By her reasoning, the defendants 27 discriminated against her because they did not reduce the 10 percent grade of the closer parking 28 lot. See Reply at 3. She cites regulations and commentary by the Department of Justice, which 1 provide among other things that accessible parking spaces must be on the “shortest accessible 2 route of travel to an accessible facility entrance” and must be “closest to the accessible entrance.” 3 Mot. at 5 nn. 15, 16 (citing U.S. Dep’t of Justice, “ADA Business Brief: Restriping Parking Lots” 4 at 2 (Oct. 2001) and U.S. Dep’t of Justice, “ADA Guide for Small Businesses” at 4 (Oct. 8, 5 2008)). 6 In response, the defendants argue the ADA does not require them to regrade the closer 7 parking lot because it would be prohibitively expensive to do so. See Opp’n at 5–6. The ADA 8 does not require “architectural barriers,” such as steeply sloped parking lots, see Lopez, 974 F.3d 9 at 1034, to be removed from a facility that existed when the ADA was passed if it is not “readily 10 achievable” to accomplish the removal, Chapman v. Pier 1 Imports (U.S.) Inc., 631 F.3d 939, 945 11 (9th Cir. 2011) (quoting 42 U.S.C. § 12182(b)(2)(A)(iv)). Ms.

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Tyler v. Valley MRI and Radiology, Inc., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tyler-v-valley-mri-and-radiology-inc-caed-2022.