Johnson v. Kumar et al

Filing 27

ORDER signed by District Judge John A. Mendez on 11/9/17, GRANTING plaintiff's 26 Motion for Summary Judgment. Defendants are enjoined to "alter facilities to make such facilities readily accessible to and useable by individuals with disabilities" to the extent required by the ADA. 42 U.S.C. § 12188(a)(2). The Court also AWARDS plaintiff statutory damages in the amount of $8,000. CASE CLOSED (Kastilahn, A)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 SCOTT JOHNSON, 12 2:16-cv-00978-JAM-DB Plaintiff, 13 14 No. v. ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT KRISHNA G. KUMAR and NALINI K. KUMAR, 15 Defendants. 16 Plaintiff Scott Johnson (“Plaintiff”) sued Defendants 17 18 Krishna G. Kumar and Nalini K. Kumar (“Defendants”), alleging 19 that their business, the Economy Inn, does not comply with the 20 Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and the Unruh Civil 21 Rights Act. 22 judgment. 23 Plaintiff’s motion. For the reasons set forth below, the Court 24 GRANTS Plaintiff’s motion. 25 /// 26 /// Compl., ECF No. 1. Mot., ECF No. 26. Plaintiff moved for summary Defendants did not oppose 1 27 1 28 This motion was determined to be suitable for decision without oral argument. E.D. Cal. L.R. 230(g). 1 1 2 I. OPINION Plaintiff, a quadriplegic, visited the Economy Inn, located 3 at 528 E. Pacheco Blvd., Los Banos, California, on February 23, 4 2015, March 9, 2015, April 20, 2015, May 27, 2015, September 6, 5 2015, October 6, 2015, October 7, 2015 and December 7, 2015. 6 Johnson Decl. ¶ 4, ECF No. 26-5. 7 found that the entrance ramp to the office door lacked a landing; 8 the door hardware was hard to operate; and the transaction 9 counter was too high for him to use. During his visits, Plaintiff Id. at ¶¶ 7–12. Traveling 10 to a guestroom, Plaintiff found the path to his guestroom 11 obstructed by air conditioning units. 12 Id. at ¶¶ 13–15. Plaintiff plans to return and patronize the Economy Inn once 13 barriers are removed. 14 relief and statutory damages under the Unruh Civil Rights Act 15 corresponding to two (2) obstructed visits to the Economy Inn 16 ($4,000.00 minimum statutory damages per visit, for a total 17 amount of $8,000.00). 18 Id. at ¶¶ 19–20. He seeks injunctive Mot. at 11. Here, Plaintiff provided factual evidence that Defendants’ 19 business did not comply with the ADA and Unruh Civil Rights Act. 20 Defendants did not oppose or provide evidence demonstrating an 21 issue of material fact as to those violations. 22 dispute of fact as to Plaintiff’s visits to the Economy Inn and 23 Defendants’ statutory noncompliance, making relief appropriate. 24 Although a plaintiff may recover statutory damages for 25 several visits to a non-compliant facility, making multiple 26 visits to a non-complaint facility in a short amount of time may 27 constitute a failure to mitigate. 28 Supp. 3d 1096, 1103 (E.D. Cal. 2016). 2 Thus, there is no See Johnson v. Guedoir, 218 F. Here, Plaintiff visited 1 the Economy Inn eight times in ten months. 2 seeks statutory damages for two of his eight visits and there is 3 no showing of failure to mitigate, the Court will grant Plaintiff 4 $8,000 in statutory damages. Since Plaintiff only 5 6 7 II. ORDER For the reasons provided, Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary 8 Judgment, ECF No. 26, is GRANTED. Defendants are enjoined to 9 “alter facilities to make such facilities readily accessible to 10 and useable by individuals with disabilities” to the extent 11 required by the ADA. 12 awards Plaintiff statutory damages in the amount of $8,000. 13 14 42 U.S.C. § 12188(a)(2). IT IS SO ORDERED. Dated: November 9, 2017 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 3 The Court also

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