Johnson v. Cortese

Background

Scott Johnson sued John J. Cortese and Izzet Yusuf Kufioglu under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act. Johnson alleged that he is a C-5 quadriplegic who uses a wheelchair and that, during three visits to Checkers Auto Repair & Gas in January and March 2019, he encountered two access barriers: no compliant accessible parking access aisle and no accessible sales counter.

Johnson alleged that Kufioglu owned Checkers and that Cortese owned the property. He sought an order requiring accessibility improvements, statutory damages, attorneys’ fees, and costs. The clerk entered default against Kufioglu on July 9, 2019, and against Cortese on December 9, 2019. Neither defendant appeared or responded.

Jurisdiction and service

The court found that it had federal-question jurisdiction over the ADA claim and supplemental jurisdiction over the related Unruh Act claim. It also found that Johnson properly served both defendants and that the court had personal jurisdiction over them.

Default judgment analysis

For a default judgment, the court considered the factors identified in Eitel v. McCool, including prejudice to the plaintiff, the apparent merits and sufficiency of the claims, the amount at stake, possible disputes about material facts, whether the failure to respond was excusable neglect, and the policy favoring decisions on the merits.

The court accepted well-pleaded factual allegations as true, but did not treat legal conclusions or unsupported facts as admitted. It found that Johnson had standing because he alleged a disability, personally encountered the barriers, and intended to return after the facility became accessible.

As to Kufioglu, the court found that Johnson sufficiently alleged the elements of an ADA architectural-barrier claim. Johnson showed that he had a disability, that Checkers was a place of public accommodation owned by Kufioglu, and that the parking and sales-counter barriers denied him access. The court also found that Johnson plausibly showed that removing the barriers was readily achievable, while the defendants did not appear to contest that issue. Because an ADA violation necessarily constituted an Unruh Act violation under the court’s analysis, the court found that Johnson sufficiently alleged both claims against Kufioglu.

As to Cortese, the submitted records appeared to identify St Vincent Properties—not Cortese—as the owner of the real property. Johnson did not provide supplemental evidence establishing Cortese’s ownership by the court’s deadline and did not allege facts supporting an alter-ego or corporate-veil theory. The court therefore declined to enter default judgment against Cortese.

Relief

The court granted injunctive relief against Kufioglu, ordering him, to the extent he had the legal right and ability to do so, to provide an accessible parking space and accessible sales counter at Checkers in compliance with the ADA Accessibility Guidelines.

The court awarded $8,000 in Unruh Act statutory damages: $4,000 for each of the two identified barriers on the three occasions Johnson visited, as stated in the order. The court awarded $2,510 in attorneys’ fees after reducing the requested hourly rates and deducting unreasonable billed time. It also awarded $865 in litigation costs. The total judgment was $11,375.

Disposition

Judge Edward J. Davila’s order states that Johnson’s motion for default judgment was GRANTED as to Defendant Kufioglu only. Johnson’s requests for $8,000 in statutory damages, $2,510 in attorneys’ fees, $865 in costs, and injunctive relief were GRANTED.