Whitaker v. Lucky Opco LLC

Background

Brian Whitaker, who has quadriplegia and uses a wheelchair, alleged that he visited the Lucky Store in Palo Alto, California, in January 2021. He alleged that the sales counter was too high to use from a wheelchair and that an employee could not successfully lower the point-of-sale machine to another counter. Whitaker alleged that transactions therefore had to occur at the higher counter.

Whitaker sued Lucky Opco LLC under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act. The defendant did not file a response. After the clerk entered default, Whitaker moved for default judgment, an order requiring an accessible sales counter, $4,000 in statutory damages, and attorneys’ fees and costs.

Court’s analysis

The court concluded that it had subject-matter jurisdiction over the ADA claim under the federal-question statute and supplemental jurisdiction over the related Unruh Act claim. It also concluded that it had personal jurisdiction over Lucky Opco LLC and that the defendant had been properly served.

The court applied the seven factors used in the Ninth Circuit to decide whether default judgment is appropriate. It found that the factors favored judgment because Whitaker otherwise would have no way to recover for the alleged violations, his complaint adequately supported the requested relief, the amount at stake was reasonable, there was no apparent dispute over material facts, and there was no indication that the defendant’s failure to participate resulted from excusable neglect. The court also noted that deciding the case on the merits was impractical because the defendant had not appeared.

The court found that Whitaker had standing to seek an injunction because he alleged that he personally encountered the barrier and was deterred from visiting the store. It also found that he adequately pleaded an ADA claim: he was disabled under the ADA, the store was a place of public accommodation, and the alleged sales-counter conditions violated applicable accessibility standards. The court further held that the adequately pleaded ADA violation also adequately pleaded an Unruh Act violation because an ADA violation is a violation of that California law.

Ruling and relief

Judge Charles Breyer granted Whitaker’s motion for default judgment. The court ordered Lucky Opco LLC to provide a wheelchair-accessible sales counter, awarded $4,000 in statutory damages for the single Unruh Act violation, awarded $1,275 in attorneys’ fees, and awarded $835 in litigation expenses and costs. The court reduced the requested attorneys’ fees after determining that lower hourly rates were reasonable, while finding that the 6.3 hours billed were reasonable.