Mendez v. Papa John's USA, Inc.
- Jesse Furman
- 1:19-cv-09892
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Mendez v. Papa John’s, Judge Furman granted Papa John’s motion to dismiss an accessibility lawsuit and closed the case.
Himelda Mendez’s federal Americans with Disabilities Act claim was dismissed; her state and local claims were dismissed without prejudice to refiling in state court. Papa John’s USA, Inc. prevailed on its motion to dismiss, and the case was closed.
What happened
Himelda Mendez sued Papa John’s USA, Inc., claiming that its gift cards were not accessible to blind people under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Papa John’s asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing that Mendez lacked the required constitutional standing and that the law did not require accessible gift cards.
The court concluded that Mendez had standing to sue. But it held that selling non-accessible gift cards did not violate the Americans with Disabilities Act because gift cards are goods, not public accommodations or currency services, and Mendez had not adequately alleged that Papa John’s failed to provide other appropriate assistance.
Judge Jesse M. Furman dismissed the federal claim, dismissed the state and local claims without prejudice to refiling in state court, denied leave to amend, granted Papa John’s motion to dismiss, and closed the case.
The detailed version
- Mendez v. Papa John's USA, Inc. · No. 1:19-cv-09892
- Jesse Furman
- July 21, 2020
Background
Himelda Mendez brought a proposed class action against Papa John’s USA, Inc. The lawsuit challenged Papa John’s alleged failure to sell gift cards accessible to blind people. Mendez asserted a claim under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the federal law governing access to places of public accommodation, as well as claims under state and local law.
Papa John’s moved to dismiss on two principal grounds: that Mendez lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution, and that the Americans with Disabilities Act did not require Papa John’s to sell accessible gift cards.
Standing
The court rejected Papa John’s standing argument. Judge Furman found Mendez’s allegations sufficient to survive a motion to dismiss, while acknowledging that the standing issue was close. The court relied on a decision involving similar allegations and noted that the complaints in the two cases were nearly identical apart from the parties’ names and relevant dates.
Americans with Disabilities Act Claim
The court held that selling non-accessible gift cards did not violate Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act. It gave three reasons. First, gift cards are not themselves a public accommodation, distinguishing the case from website-accessibility cases. Second, a gift card is a good rather than a currency service, and the statute and implementing regulations do not require goods to be sold in accessible form or in the particular form requested by a customer. Third, Mendez had not adequately alleged that she investigated whether Papa John’s provided other auxiliary aids or services for using its gift cards.
The court therefore dismissed Mendez’s Americans with Disabilities Act claim. The opinion does not expressly state whether that dismissal was with or without prejudice.
State and Local Claims
After dismissing the only federal claim, the court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over Mendez’s state- and local-law claims. The court noted that the case was still at an early stage and that the claims raised novel issues of state and local law. It dismissed those claims without prejudice to refiling in state court.
Leave to Amend and Disposition
The court declined to give Mendez another opportunity to amend her complaint. It found that the problems with the Americans with Disabilities Act claim were substantive, that Mendez had not identified additional facts that could cure those problems, and that she had already amended her complaint after receiving notice of Papa John’s arguments. The court also noted that Mendez had previously been given an opportunity to amend a nearly identical complaint in a related case and had chosen not to do so.
Judge Jesse M. Furman granted Papa John’s motion to dismiss, directed the clerk to terminate the motion, and ordered the case closed.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.