Whitaker v. Mani Pedi Nails Spa Inc.

Background

Brian Whitaker brought an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) claim and a state-law claim against Mani Pedi Nails Spa Inc. The ADA claim was based on an outside table at the defendant’s premises. The defendant moved to dismiss the complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.

Whitaker conceded that the ADA claim was moot because the outside table had been voluntarily removed. He also asked for another opportunity to inspect the site, identify possible interior barriers that he had not personally encountered, and amend his complaint to add an ADA claim based on those barriers.

Rulings

The court granted the defendant’s motion. It dismissed Whitaker’s ADA claim for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction because Whitaker had conceded that the claim was moot after removal of the table.

The court denied Whitaker’s request for another site inspection and to amend his complaint. It reasoned that the proposed amendment would be futile because Whitaker had not disputed the defendant’s assertion that the table was not an architectural barrier on which an ADA claim could be based. The court also stated that an ADA plaintiff may challenge barriers at a public accommodation that the plaintiff has personally encountered and that are related to the plaintiff’s disability.

After dismissing the only claim over which it had original federal jurisdiction, the court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the remaining state-law claim. It dismissed that claim without prejudice to refiling in state court. The court vacated the scheduled hearing.