Celinda Vazquez v. Joes Market

Background

Celinda Vazquez sued Joes Market, Nageeb Alnagar, and Halima Alnagar under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act and California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act. She alleged that, during a September 26, 2018 visit to Joe’s Market, she encountered access barriers involving accessible parking spaces and aisles, the route from parking to the entrance, signage, and the service counter. She sought summary judgment, which is a request for judgment without a trial because there is allegedly no genuine dispute about important facts. She also sought $12,000 in statutory damages under the Unruh Act and an order requiring an accessible premises.

The defendants did not oppose the motion. The court explained, however, that a court cannot grant summary judgment merely because the opposing party failed to respond. The party seeking summary judgment must still provide admissible evidence establishing entitlement to judgment as a matter of law.

Court’s Analysis

The court concluded that Vazquez had provided sufficient evidence for purposes of the motion that she had a disability. It also concluded that Joe’s Market was a place of public accommodation and that Nageeb and Halima Alnagar owned the business when Vazquez encountered the alleged barriers.

The court ruled that Vazquez had not provided sufficient evidence of the barriers themselves. Her declaration stated that slopes were excessive and that there was no accessible route, but it did not state that she had measured the slopes. The photographs did not contain measurements, there was no photograph of the service counter, and the record did not show why the signage failed to comply with accessibility standards. Vazquez described findings by a certified access specialist, but she did not submit the specialist’s report; the court treated her descriptions of those findings as inadmissible hearsay. Because compliance can depend on precise measurements, the court could not determine from the submitted evidence whether the parking and route slopes violated the applicable accessibility standards.

Disposition

The court found that Vazquez had not met her burden on summary judgment to show that access barriers existed at Joe’s Market. Judge Susan Illston denied Vazquez’s motion for summary judgment and did not grant leave to refile that motion. The court scheduled a further case management conference for October 16, 2020, to consider setting a trial date and other steps needed to resolve the case.