Castillo v. Hudson Theatre, LLC

412 F.Supp.3d 447

Evelyn CASTILLO, on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated, Plaintiff,

v.HUDSON THEATRE, LLC, d/b/a Hudson Theatre, Defendants.

Evelyn Castillo, on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated, Plaintiff,

v.Lyric Theatre of New York, Inc., d/b/a Lyric Theatre, Defendant.

18-CV-7931 (JPO)

18-CV-7943 (JPO)

United States District Court, S.D. New York.

Signed September 30, 2019

Anne Melissa Seelig, C.K. Lee, Lee Litigation Group, PLLC, New York, NY, for Plaintiff.

Lisa Marie Griffith, Littler Mendelson, P.C., Melville, NY, Daniella Adler, Littler Mendelson, P.C., New York, NY, for Defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER

J.PAUL OETKEN, District Judge:

In these consolidated putative class actions, Plaintiff Evelyn Castillo, who has diabetes, alleges that two Broadway theaters in Manhattan — Hudson Theatre, LLC ("Hudson") and Lyric Theatre of New York, Inc. ("Lyric") (collectively, "the Theaters" or "Defendants") — discriminate against her and other individuals disabled by diabetes and other metabolic disorders through the imposition of policies banning outside food from Defendants' facilities. Castillo alleges that those policies created an access barrier excluding people with metabolic disorders from full and equal enjoyment of the services provided by Defendants' facilities. She asserts claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 ("ADA"), 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq. ; the New York State Civil Rights Law ("NYSCRL"), N.Y. Exec. Law § 290 et seq. ; and the New York City Human Rights Law ("NYCHRL"), N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 8-101 et seq. The Theaters move to dismiss Castillo's complaints for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. (Dkt. No. 17.)¹ For the reasons that follow, the Theaters' motions are granted.

I. Background

The facts below are drawn from Castillo's complaint (see Dkt. No. 1 ("Compl.")) and are presumed true for the purposes of this motion.

Plaintiff Evelyn Castillo is a resident of Brooklyn, New York, who was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus and put on a restricted diet in 2006. (Compl. ¶ 19.) She cannot eat outside the parameters of her meal plan, and she must maintain constant and ready access to predetermined snacks to manage her blood sugar in case it drops suddenly. (Compl. ¶ 19.) If she is unable to have her snacks with her, she is susceptible to symptoms of low blood sugar such as weakness, dizziness, and confusion. (Compl. ¶¶ 20–21.) Waiting to eat — say, because she must stand in line to buy food — may exacerbate these symptoms further. Id. Buying food with an unknown amount of sugar, such as what might be available at the Theaters' concession stands, is also risky for Castillo, as she cannot anticipate either the effect it will have on her blood sugar or how much insulin she must consume along with it. (Compl. ¶ 20.)

Defendants Hudson and Lyric own and operate two theaters in New York City, which, it is undisputed, are "places of public accommodation under Title III of the ADA." (Compl. ¶ 23.) Among other things, the Theaters host events open to the public, including games, concerts, and other benefits. (Id. ) Defendants state on the Theaters' websites that outside food and beverage is prohibited in the Theaters. (See Compl. ¶¶ 1, 12.)

Castillo alleges that in the summer and fall of 2018, she intended to buy tickets to attend events at Defendants' theaters but did not do so due to their advertised policies of not allowing outside food. (Compl. ¶ 22.) She contends that this constitutes an "access barrier" for the purposes of the ADA, preventing "full and equal access to the goods and services provided by Defendant" to her and Class members. (Compl. ¶¶ 22, 24.)

On August 30, 2018, Castillo filed a Class Action Complaint against the Theaters, on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated, asserting that the Theaters' no-outside-food policies violate her and class members' rights under the ADA, the NYSCRL, and the NYCHRL. (Compl. ¶¶ 52–111.) Castillo seeks to represent a class composed of "all legally metabolically-disabled individuals in the United States who have attempted to access [Defendants' theaters] and as a result have been denied access to the enjoyment of goods and services offered [there] during the relevant statutory period." (Compl. ¶ 25.) On December 19, 2018, Defendants moved to dismiss Castillo's complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). (Dkt. No. 17.)

II. Legal Standard

To survive a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, plaintiffs must plead "enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face." Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly , 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). A claim is facially plausible when plaintiffs have pleaded facts that would allow "the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged." Ashcroft v. Iqbal , 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). "Court[s] must accept as true all well-pleaded factual allegations in the complaint, and ‘draw all inferences in the plaintiff's favor.’ " Goonan v. Fed. Reserve Bank of N.Y. , 916 F. Supp. 2d 470, 478 (S.D.N.Y. 2013) (quoting Allaire Corp. v. Okumus , 433 F.3d 248, 250 (2d Cir. 2006) ) (formatting altered). However, "the tenet that a court must accept as true all of the allegations contained in a complaint is inapplicable to legal conclusions. Threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice." Iqbal , 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937.

III. Discussion

"The ADA was promulgated ‘to provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities,’ as well as to establish ‘clear, strong, consistent, enforceable standards’ for scrutinizing such discrimination." Staron v. McDonald's Corp. , 51 F.3d 353, 355 (2d Cir. 1995) (quoting 42 U.S.C. § 12101(b)(1)–(2) ). Title III of the ADA governs places of public accommodations. It guarantees that "[n]o individual shall be discriminated against on the basis of disability in the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of any place of public accommodation by any person who owns, leases (or leases to), or operates a place of public accommodation," 42 U.S.C. § 12182(a), such as a "theater ... or other place of exhibition or entertainment," id. at § 12181(7)(C). Thus, to state a claim under Title III, Castillo must adequately allege "that (1) ... she is disabled within the meaning of the ADA; (2) [the Theaters] own, lease, or operate a place of public accommodation; and (3) [they] discriminated against [her] within the meaning of the ADA." Roberts v. Royal Atl. Corp. , 542 F.3d 363, 368 (2d Cir. 2008).

The Theaters do not contest that Castillo has satisfied the first and second elements of the claim; only the third — that the Theaters discriminated against her within the meaning of the ADA — is at issue here. The relevant provision of the ADA defines discrimination as "a failure to make reasonable modifications in policies, practices, or procedures, when such modifications are necessary to afford such goods, services, facilities, or accommodations to individuals with disabilities." 42 U.S.C. § 12182(b)(2)(A)(ii).² Castillo maintains that the "no-outside-food" policies deny her access to the Theaters and prevent her from receiving the services they offer because of her disability. (Compl. ¶ 61.) The Theaters argue that Castillo's complaint must be dismissed because she has not adequately pleaded that Defendants "fail[ed] to make reasonable modifications in policies." (Dkt. No. 18 at 5–6.) Specifically, the Theaters argue that they did not have notice of Castillo's disability and that she did not request a "reasonable modification" to their policies. (Id. )

A. Notice

"[N]otice of the alleged disability ... is an assumed prerequisite" of a Title III claim for failure to make reasonable accommodations. Shaywitz v. Am. Bd. of Psychiatry & Neurology , 848 F. Supp. 2d 460, 466 (S.D.N.Y. 2012) ; see also McBride v. BIC Consumer Prods. Mfg. Co. , 583 F.3d 92, 97 (2d Cir. 2009) (listing notice as a required element of a failure to accommodate claim in an employment discrimination case). Thus, a "plaintiff must show that defendants had notice of her disability ... [and] has the initial duty to inform the [defendant] of a disability before ADA liability may be triggered for failure to provide accommodations." Thompson v. City of New York , No. 98 Civ. 4725, 2002 WL 31760219, at *7 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 9, 2002).

Castillo does not allege that she notified the Theaters that she needed to bring in outside food due to her metabolic disorder. Instead, she states that she attempted to purchase tickets and was deterred from doing so upon reading the Defendants' policies against bringing outside food into the Theaters. In defense of this omission, Castillo cites Pickern v. Holiday Quality Foods , 293 F.3d 1133, 1136 (9th Cir. 2002), for the proposition that deterrence from visiting a place of public accommodation due to access barriers constitutes injury for the purposes of Title III. See Pickern , 293 F.3d at 1136–37. That opinion, however, pertained to the issue of constitutional standing, holding that deterrence from visiting a place of public accommodation can constitute an Article III injury. See id. Though Castillo may have suffered an "actual injury" by being deterred from visiting the Theaters, she has not pleaded facts to show that the injury is due to the Theaters' refusal to modify their policies to accommodate her within the meaning of the ADA. This failure to provide notice of her disability to the Theaters or to allege some other means by which they might have had an opportunity to consider her need for accommodations is fatal to Castillo's claim.

B. Reasonable Modification

Castillo also fails to allege that she requested a reasonable modification to Defenda...