Frances v. Accessible Space, Inc. et al
Filing
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ORDER granting defendants' 9 Motion to Dismiss with leave to amend, signed by District Judge John A. Mendez on 1/3/17. Ms. Frances must file her amended complaint within 20 days of the date of this Order. Defendants' responsive pleading shall be filed 20 days thereafter. (Kastilahn, A)
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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ANGELICA FRANCES,
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2:16-cv-1016-JAM-GGH
Plaintiff,
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No.
v.
ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’
MOTION TO DISMISS
ACCESSIBLE SPACE, INC., a
Minnesota corporation; SOUTH
LAKE TAHOE SUPPORTIVE
HOUSING, INC., a California
Corporation; DOE BUSINESS
ENTITIES 1-10, DOE
INDIVIDUALS 1-10,
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Defendants.
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Plaintiff Angelica Frances (“Ms. Frances” or “Plaintiff”), a
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disabled mother, has lived in an apartment complex owned by
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Defendant South Lake Tahoe Supportive Housing Inc. (“Supportive
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Housing”) and serviced by Defendant Accessible Space Inc.
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(“Accessible Space”) (collectively, “Defendants”) since 2009. 1
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Compl. ¶¶ 2, 3, 18, ECF No. 1.
Ms. Frances sued Defendants in
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This motion was determined to be suitable for decision without
oral argument. E.D. Cal. L.R. 230(g). The hearing was
scheduled for November 15, 2016.
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federal court in May 2016 alleging that Defendants have failed to
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keep her apartment in suitable living condition and have
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erroneously calculated her rent since 2009.
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Defendants move to dismiss Ms. Frances’ complaint, arguing that
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this Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction and that Ms.
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Frances’ claims are time-barred.
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8, ECF No. 9-1.
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Defendants’ motion to dismiss.
Compl. at 5-16.
Mot. to Dismiss (“Mot.”) at 4,
For the following reasons, the Court grants
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I.
FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
The Court takes the facts alleged by Plaintiff as true for
purposes of this motion.
Ms. Frances and her son moved into the Sky Forest Acres
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apartment complex (“Sky Forest”) in July 2009.
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Frances still lives at Sky Forest.
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Accessible Space “provides accommodations and services to adults
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with qualifying disabilities” at Sky Forest.
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Defendant Supportive Housing owns Sky Forest.
Compl. ¶ 18.
Compl. ¶ 1.
Ms.
Defendant
Compl. ¶ 2.
Compl. ¶ 3.
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In 2009 “and thereafter on a regular, continuous basis” she
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“notified Defendants about the lack of heat in the second bedroom
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of her [a]partment.”
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out of the apartment in December 2013 because “he could no longer
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deal with the cold temperature in his room.”
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Defendants did nothing to solve the heating problem until June
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2014, when they installed a baseboard heater in the second
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bedroom.
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Compl. ¶ 18.
Ms. Frances’ son had to move
Compl. ¶ 20.
Compl. ¶ 19.
In 2013, Ms. Frances “began complaining to Defendants about
water leaks in her apartment.”
Compl. ¶ 31.
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Defendants’
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employees created an additional leak in Ms. Frances’ apartment
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when they made a hole in the ceiling.
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did not repair the leaks for five to six months.
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Compl. ¶ 32.
Defendants
Compl. ¶ 33.
In the fall of 2014, Ms. Frances “noticed black mold growing
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on the walls, ceilings[,] and window sills” and asked Defendants
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to fix the problem.
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“entered [Ms. Frances’] apartment one or twice a month to wipe
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down her window sills and other moldy areas with bleach,” but
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have not remedied the source of the mold.
Compl. ¶ 39.
Defendants have since then
Compl. ¶ 40.
The mold
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and leaks have “aggravated [her] existing injuries” and caused
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new medical problems.
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Compl. ¶ 50.
Defendants have also failed to properly compute her rent
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for each year that she has lived at Sky Forest,
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and Defendants have “refused to return the overcharged amounts to
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Plaintiff.”
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Compl. ¶¶ 64-66,
Compl. ¶ 87.
In May 2016, Ms. Frances sued Defendants alleging seven
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causes of action: (1) negligence and premises liability,
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(2) breach of contract, (3) violation of 29 U.S.C. § 701 et seq.,
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(4) violation of California Civil Code Section 1941.1 and
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California Health and Safety Code Section 17920.3, (5) unfair
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business practices under California Business and Professions Code
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§ 17200 et seq., (6) breach of the warranty of habitability, and
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(7) negligent infliction of emotional distress.
Compl. at 4-21.
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II.
OPINION
Defendants argue that the Court must dismiss Ms. Frances’
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complaint for two reasons: first, because the Court lacks subject
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matter jurisdiction, and second, because statutes of limitations
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bar Ms. Frances’ claims.
A.
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Mot. at 4, 8.
Analysis
1.
Existence of a Federal Question
Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction and can
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adjudicate only those cases authorized by the United States
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Constitution and Congress.
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of America, 511 U.S. 375, 377 (1994).
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presumptively lack jurisdiction over civil actions, and the
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party asserting jurisdiction bears the burden of establishing
Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co.
Federal courts
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otherwise.
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cases involving diversity of citizenship, a federal question, or
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the United States as a party.
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7281611, at *1 (E.D. Cal. Nov. 18, 2015).
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jurisdiction stems from 28 U.S.C. § 1331, which states that
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“district courts shall have original jurisdiction of all civil
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actions arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the
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United States.”
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Id.
Federal courts may exercise jurisdiction over
Goraya v. Martinez, 2015 WL
Federal question
Ms. Frances asserts that this Court has jurisdiction over
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her case “pursuant to 28 U.S.C. [§] 1331, because there are
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several federal questions involved.”
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argues that her claims arise under Sections 801 and 804(f)(3) of
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the Fair Housing Act [codified at 42 U.S.C. §§ 3601, 3604] and
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Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act [codified at 29 U.S.C.
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§ 701 et seq.].
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mentions the Fair Housing Act sporadically throughout her
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complaint, she does not assert any Fair Housing Act claims.
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its face, Ms. Frances’ complaint contains only one federal
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claim: her third cause of action for violation of Section 504 of
Opp’n at 6.
Compl. ¶ 8.
Plaintiff
However, while Ms. Frances
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On
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the Rehabilitation Act.
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jurisdiction therefore depends on whether Ms. Frances has
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adequately stated a Section 504 claim.
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Compl. at 17.
This Court’s
To state a claim under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation
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Act, a plaintiff must allege that “(1) he is an individual with
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a disability; (2) he is otherwise qualified to receive the
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benefit; (3) he was denied the benefits of the program solely by
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reason of his disability; and (4) the program receives federal
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financial assistance.”
O'Guinn v. Lovelock Corr. Ctr., 502 F.3d
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1056, 1060 (9th Cir. 2007); see also Lovell v. Chandler, 303
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F.3d 1039, 1052 (9th Cir. 2002).
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alleges that she “was denied the benefits of the program solely
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by reason of [her] disability” nor asserts facts to support such
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an allegation.
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discrimination in her opposition, but fails to raise these
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allegations in her complaint.
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Ms. Frances neither explicitly
Ms. Frances alleges race and disability
Despite her failure to explicitly allege more than one
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federal claim, Ms. Frances argues that her case arises under
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federal law because “ten separate federal laws are in issue here
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with regard to their interpretation and enforcement.”
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8.
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federal court may exercise jurisdiction over a case that
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contains no sufficiently pled federal causes of action merely
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because the case involves federal law.
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to meet her burden to establish that this Court has subject
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matter jurisdiction over this case.
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dismisses Ms. Frances’ complaint for lack of subject matter
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jurisdiction.
Opp’n at
But Ms. Frances does not provide any case law showing that a
Ms. Frances has failed
The Court therefore
The Court finds that amendment is not futile in
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this case and grants Ms. Frances leave to amend her complaint.
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See Rouse v. Brown, 580 F. App'x 519, 520 (9th Cir. 2014)
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(stating that a court abuses its discretion “to deny leave to
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amend when amendment [is] not futile”).
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Because Ms. Frances’ insufficiently pled claim for
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violation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act provides the
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only potential basis for this Court’s jurisdiction, the Court
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declines to address whether Ms. Frances’ claims are barred by
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the applicable statutes of limitations at this time.
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III.
SANCTIONS
The Court issued its Order re Filing Requirements (“Order”)
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on May 12, 2016.
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support of and in opposition to motions to dismiss to fifteen
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pages and reply memoranda in support of motions to dismiss to
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five pages.
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who exceeds the page limits must pay monetary sanctions of $50.00
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per page and that the Court will not consider any arguments made
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past the page limit.
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the page limit by two pages.
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any arguments made after page five of the reply brief.
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addition, Defendants’ counsel shall pay $100.00 in sanctions to
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the Clerk of the Court within five days of the date of this
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order.
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ECF No. 4-2.
Order at 1.
Id.
The Order limits memoranda in
The Order also states that an attorney
Defendants’ reply memorandum exceeds
IV.
Thus, the Court has not considered
In
ORDER
For the reasons set forth above, the Court GRANTS
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Defendants’ motion to dismiss with leave to amend.
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must file her amended complaint within twenty days of the date of
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Ms. Frances
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this Order.
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days thereafter.
Defendants’ responsive pleading shall be filed 20
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IT IS SO ORDERED.
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Dated: January 3, 2017
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