Whitaker v. Chanel, Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedApril 14, 2022
Docket5:21-cv-09330
StatusUnknown

This text of Whitaker v. Chanel, Inc. (Whitaker v. Chanel, Inc.) 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
Whitaker v. Chanel, Inc., (N.D. Cal. 2022).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 BRIAN WHITAKER, Case No. 21-cv-09330-SVK

8 Plaintiff, ORDER ON (1) DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO DISMISS; AND 9 v. (2) PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR ADMINISTRATIVE RELIEF 10 CHANEL, INC., Re: Dkt. Nos. 16, 17 11 Defendant.

12 Plaintiff Brian Whitaker brings this lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act 13 (“ADA”) and the California Unruh Civil Rights Act, alleging that he encountered a non-accessible 14 lounge table during a November 2021 visit to the Chanel store at 2855 Stevens Creek Boulevard, 15 Santa Clara, California (the “Store”), which is owned by Defendant Chanel, Inc. Dkt. 1 16 (Complaint) ¶¶ 2, 3, 8. 10-16. Now before the Court is Defendant’s motion to dismiss the 17 Complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Dkt. 16. Also before the Court is Plaintiff’s 18 administrative motion seeking an order requiring Defendant to provide dates for a joint site 19 inspection. Dkt. 17. The Parties have consented to the jurisdiction of a magistrate judge. Dkt. 8, 20 15. Pursuant to Civil Local Rule 7-1(b), the Court deems these matters suitable for determination 21 without oral argument. For the reasons that follow, Defendant’s motion to dismiss is GRANTED 22 IN PART AND DENIED IN PART, and Plaintiff’s motion for administrative relief is DENIED. 23 I. LEGAL STANDARD 24 Rule 12(b)(1) allows the Court to dismiss a complaint for lack of subject matter 25 jurisdiction. Chandler v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 598 F.3d 1115, 1122 (9th Cir. 2010). 26 Rule 12(b)(1) motions can challenge subject matter jurisdiction in two different ways: (1) a facial 27 attack based solely on the allegations of the complaint, or (2) a factual attack based on extrinsic 1 Cir. 2004). If a defendant initiates a factual attack by submitting a declaration with extrinsic 2 evidence of the lack of subject matter jurisdiction, “the court need not presume the truthfulness of 3 the plaintiff’s allegations.” Id. In addition, once the defendant makes a factual challenge by 4 presenting extrinsic evidence to dispute the allegations in the complaint, “the party opposing the 5 motion must present affidavits or any other evidence necessary to satisfy its burden that the court, 6 in fact, possesses subject matter jurisdiction.” Johnson v. Techbusiness Resources, LLC, No. 20- 7 cv-06048-BLF, 2020 WL 7013596, at *1 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 28, 2020) (internal quotation marks and 8 citations omitted). When the jurisdictional issue is intertwined with the merits, a court must apply 9 the summary judgment standard in deciding the motion to dismiss. Id. (citation omitted). 10 Specifically, where a plaintiff’s substantive claims and the court’s jurisdiction are both premised 11 on the ADA, “the issues of jurisdiction and substance are intertwined” and the court applies the 12 summary judgment standard. Id. A motion for summary judgment should be granted if “there is 13 no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to a judgment as a matter of 14 law.” Id. (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a)). 15 II. DISCUSSION 16 A. Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss 17 1. ADA Claim 18 Defendant argues that the ADA claim should be dismissed for lack of subject matter 19 jurisdiction under Rule 12(b)(1) because Plaintiff lacks standing to pursue the claim and because 20 the claim is moot. Dkt. 16. 21 a) ADA Standing 22 As the party invoking the Court’s jurisdiction, Plaintiff bears the burden of pleading 23 Article III standing. Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 561 (1992). To plead 24 Article III standing, Plaintiff must show that (1) he has suffered an “injury-in-fact”; (2) the injury 25 is fairly traceable to Defendant’s challenged conduct; and (3) “it is likely, as opposed to merely 26 speculative, that the injury will be redressed by a favorable decision.” Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. 27 Laidlaw Environmental Services (TOC), Inc., 528 U.S. 167, 180-81 (2000) (citing Lujan, 504 U.S. 1 that he suffered an invasion of a legally protected interest that is “concrete and particularized” and 2 “actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical.” Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 136 S. Ct. 1540, 3 1548 (2016). A “concrete” injury “must actually exist.” Id. “[A]t the pleading stage, the plaintiff 4 must clearly allege facts demonstrating” the existence of an injury-in-fact. Id. at 1547 (internal 5 quotation marks and citations omitted). “In addition, to establish standing to pursue injunctive 6 relief, which is the only relief available to private plaintiffs under the ADA, [a plaintiff] must 7 demonstrate a real and immediate threat of repeated injury in the future.” Chapman v. Pier 1 8 Imports (U.S.) Inc., 631 F.3d 939, 947 (9th Cir. 2011) (en banc) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). 9 Defendant argues that Plaintiff lacks standing to bring his ADA claim because (1) Plaintiff 10 lacks facts to support the existence of an injury-in-fact because the ADA standards do not require 11 lounge tables such as the one at issue to have knee and toe clearance; and (2) Plaintiff fails to 12 allege facts sufficient to show that he faces a real and immediate threat of repeated injury. Dkt. 16 13 at 4-12. 14 (1) ADA standards for tables 15 The allegations of the Complaint relate to a “lounge table” at the Store. Complaint ¶¶ 10- 16 14. Specifically, Plaintiff alleges: 17

18 A couple of problems that plaintiff encountered was the lack of sufficient knee or toe 19 clearance under the lounge table for wheelchair users. Additionally, the lounge table was too low. Plaintiff wanted to lounge at the table while his girlfriend was shopping 20 at the Store. Tables are available for customers to congregate around and lounge at but, 21 because there are no accessible lounge tables, the plaintiff was unable to enjoy the same privileges. Eventually, the plaintiff’s girlfriend finished shopping and plaintiff, 22 who was not able to sit at the lounge table, paid for the goods 23 Id. ¶ 12. Plaintiff’s counsel provided the following picture of the table at issue in response to an 24 inquiry from defense counsel: 25 //// 26 //// 27 //// 1 ie CBO) Ln raistsy 2 al 3 4 \ - Ae A fi ‘J ae 5 a 4 | □ 7 4 “ 8 □□ | | i cd ? P eae Se 1 Ye 11 Ex. A to Dkt. 16-1 (Arnett Decl.). 12 Defendant argues that the only ADA Standards regarding tables relate to dining surfaces 13 = and work surfaces, and the lounge table at the Store does not fall into either category. Dkt. 16 at 14 S 5-6 (citing ADA Standards 8§ 226, 902; ADA Standards § 902.1 Advisory Note). As a result, 15 Defendant argues that Plaintiff's complaints regarding the lounge table do not constitute an injury-

16 in-fact. Dkt. 16 at 5-6. Plaintiff responds by arguing that the ADA Standards do not provide an 17

exhaustive list of discriminatory elements and that the “underlying statute provides the form of the Z 18 rule.” Dkt. 20 at 1. 19 Another court in this District recently rejected an argument similar to the one Defendant 20 makes here. In Whitaker v. AllSaints Spitalfields USA Retail LTD, No. 21-cv-03260-BLF, 2022 21 WL 254350, at *4 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 27, 2022) (“AllSaints IT”), the plaintiff's ADA claim was based 22 on lounge tables at an AllSaints clothing store, which the plaintiff alleged had insufficient knee or 23 toe clearance. Id. at *2.

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Bluebook (online)
Whitaker v. Chanel, Inc., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/whitaker-v-chanel-inc-cand-2022.