Yates et al v. East Side Union High School District et al

Filing 22

ORDER RE 8 MOTION TO DISMISS. Signed by Judge James Donato on 2/20/2019. (jdlc1, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 2/20/2019)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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HALEY YATES, et al.,
Plaintiffs,

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Case No.18-cv-02966-JD
ORDER RE MOTION TO DISMISS

v.

Re: Dkt. No. 8
EAST SIDE UNION HIGH SCHOOL
DISTRICT, et al.,
Defendants.

United States District Court
Northern District of California

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Plaintiff Haley Yates alleges that she was bullied, harassed, and sexually abused while she

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was a student at Piedmont Hills High School (“Piedmont Hills”) in the East Side Union High

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School District (“the District”). She and her parents sue the District, one of her fellow students,

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and District employees under Title IX, 20 U.S.C. § 1681, the Americans with Disabilities Act

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(“ADA”), 42 U.S.C. § 12132, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794, and the California

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Unruh Civil Rights Act (“Unruh Act”), Cal. Civ. Code § 51(b), among other claims. Dkt. No. 1.

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While the complaint does not specify the basis of federal jurisdiction, the Title IX, ADA, and

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Rehabilitation Act claims present a federal question, and the Court has supplemental jurisdiction

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over the state law claims. 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1367(a).

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Two of the defendants, the District and Traci Williams, the principal at Piedmont Hills at

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the time of the events, move to dismiss the complaint under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure

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12(b)(6). Dkt. No. 8. The motion is denied.

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BACKGROUND
As alleged in the complaint, Dkt. No. 1, Yates was a student with special needs at

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Piedmont Hills. She was bullied by three male students, which caused her to attempt suicide. She

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was also in a relationship with a fellow student who turned abusive and “raped her multiple times

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and videotaped parts of the rape.” Some of the alleged abuse occurred on the Piedmont Hills

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campus, and photos and videos showing Yates without clothes on were circulated among the

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campus’s students.

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When teachers and Yates’ mother learned of these incidents, they reported them to school

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supervisors, including Williams. The complaint alleges that Williams ignored them to protect a

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student with whom she had a family connection. The District investigated the situation and found

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that Williams had not followed District procedures in handling these incidents but otherwise

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denied plaintiffs any material relief. One student was arrested and pleaded guilty in connection

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with these events.

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United States District Court
Northern District of California

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LEGAL STANDARDS
Under familiar standards, a claim must provide “a short and plain statement . . . showing

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that the pleader is entitled to relief,” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2), including “enough facts to state a

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claim . . . that is plausible on its face.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007). A

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claim is plausible on its face if, accepting all factual allegations as true and construing them in the

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light most favorable to the plaintiff, the Court can reasonably infer that the defendant is liable for

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the misconduct alleged. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). The Court will not treat as

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fact or accept as true allegations that are bare legal conclusions, recitations of elements or

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unwarranted deductions. Id.; In re Gilead Scis. Sec. Litig., 536 F.3d 1049, 1055 (9th Cir. 2008).

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The plausibility analysis is “context-specific” and not only invites but “requires the reviewing

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court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 679.

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DISCUSSION

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Defendants ask to dismiss only the Unruh Act claim. The Unruh Act guarantees all

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persons in California, regardless of sex or disability, “the full and equal accommodations,

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advantages, facilities, privileges, or services in all business establishment of every kind

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whatsoever.” Cal. Civ. Code § 51(b). The Act also states that “[a] violation of the right of any

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individual under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 . . . shall constitute a

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violation of this section.” Id. § 51(f). Plaintiffs allege that Yates, based on her disability and

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gender, was deprived of the “advantages, privileges, and services” of Piedmont Hills. Dkt. No. 1
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¶ 96. But Defendants say the Unruh Act does not apply to public schools because they are not

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“business establishment[s].”

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While the California Supreme Court has not definitively said whether the Act applies to

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public schools, it has explained that the term “business establishment” should be construed “in the

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broadest sense reasonably possible.” Ibister v. Boys’ Club of Santa Cruz, Inc., 40 Cal. 3d 72, 78

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(1985) (quotation and citation omitted). The Act applies to an organization that is “classically

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‘public’ in its operation,” namely one that “opens its . . . doors to the entire youthful population”

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of a city, or a “broad segment of the population,” with “no attempt to select or restrict membership

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or access on the basis of personal, cultural, or religious affinity, as private clubs might do.” Id.

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United States District Court
Northern District of California

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at 81, 84 (emphasis omitted).
In keeping with this broad reading, California courts have applied the Act not just to for-

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profit commercial establishments but also to nonprofit institutions. See, e.g., Warfield v.

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Peninsula Golf & Country Club, 10 Cal. 4th 594, 619-20 (1995); O’Connor v. Village Green

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Owners Assn., 33 Cal. 3d 790, 796 (1983) (“Nothing in the language or history of its enactment

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calls for excluding an organization from its scope simply because it is a nonprofit.”). But the Act

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generally does not apply to a private social club, such as a private, religious school that is “an

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expressive social organization whose primary function is the inculcation of values in its youth

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members,” and whose admission policies are “effectively selective and based on these values.”

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Doe v. California Lutheran High School Assn., 170 Cal. App. 4th 828, 838 (2009) (quoting

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Curran v. Mt. Diablo Council of the Boy Scouts, 17 Cal. 4th 670, 699 (1998)).

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In essence, like the ADA, the Act is concerned with equal access to places of public

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accommodation. See Disabled Rights Action Comm. v. Las Vegas Events, Inc., 375 F.3d 861, 872

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(9th Cir. 2004); Warfield, 10 Cal. 4th at 598. Defendants do not dispute the Piedmont Hills school

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is a public operation that “provides educational services to the local community at no cost to the

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individuals it serves.” Dkt. No. 8 at 5-6. There is also no doubt that Piedmont Hills does not, nor

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as a public school could it, cater to private religious or other expressive social values, or select

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students for admission on that basis.

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Even so, defendants proffer a strict reading of “business establishment” and insist that a

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public school does not qualify as such for purposes of the Unruh Act. The point is not well taken.

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Warfield, on which the Defendants rely, and other California state court decisions have applied the

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Unruh Act to nonprofit organizations. See Warfield, 10 Cal. 4th at 599; Curran, 17 Cal. 4th

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at 696-97. Defendants’ citations to other cases finding that certain public institutions are not

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subject to the Unruh Act are readily distinguishable. These cases did not involve public schools

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with their quintessential character of providing public accommodations and services to students.

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See, e.g., Harrison v. City of Rancho Mirage, 243 Cal. App. 4th 162, 175-76 (2015) (rejecting

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challenge to city ordinance); Qualified Patients Assn. v. City of Anaheim, 187 Cal. App. 4th 734,

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764-65 (2010) (same); Carter v. City of Los Angeles, 224 Cal. App. 4th 808, 825 (2014) (dictum)

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United States District Court
Northern District of California

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(casting doubt on challenge to city’s sidewalk construction).
Consequently, the Court concludes that the Unruh Act cause of action here states a

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plausible claim. A broad array of district courts have reached the same result. See Z. T. by &

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through Hunter v. Santa Rosa City Sch., No. 17-CV-01452-WHA, 2017 WL 4418864, at *6 (N.D.

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Cal. Oct. 5, 2017) (and cases cited therein). This conclusion also squares with the ADA, which

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unquestionably applies to public schools. See Fry v. Napoleon Cmty. Sch., 137 S. Ct. 743, 749

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(2017); see also K.M. ex rel. Bright v. Tustin Unified Sch. Dist., 725 F.3d 1088, 1094 n.1 (9th

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Cir. 2013) (“[A] violation of the ADA is, per se, a violation of the Unruh Act.”) (quotation

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omitted).
Defendants next argue that even if the Unruh Act applies to public schools, it does not

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reach their employees. This too is not well taken. “[L]iability under the Act for denying a person

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the ‘full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services’ of a business

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establishment . . . extends beyond the business establishment itself to the business establishment’s

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employees responsible for the discriminatory conduct.” N. Coast Women’s Care Med. Grp., Inc.

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v. Superior Court, 44 Cal. 4th 1145, 1154 (2008). Williams and other District employees

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allegedly responsible for violating Yates’ rights under the Unruh Act are proper defendants on this

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claim.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: February 20, 2019

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JAMES DONATO
United States District Judge

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United States District Court
Northern District of California

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