SAN FRANCISCO – An Arizona woman who uses a wheelchair alleges a Bakersfield hotel discriminates against those with disabilities because of barriers there.
Theresa Brooke filed a complaint on Dec. 7 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Sri Ram Hospitality Inc., doing business as Vagabond Inn Bakersfield South, alleging violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff went to the defendant's hotel in December 2017 to book a room, but could not navigate in her wheelchair to the hotel's lobby from the passenger loading zone because of a 6-inch curb. She alleges she did not book a room and left.
The plaintiff holds Sri Ram Hospitality Inc. responsible because the defendant allegedly failed to remove architectural barriers and failed to make its public lodging services fully accessible to individuals with disabilities, including its passenger loading zone.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks declaratory judgment against defendant, costs of suit, attorneys’ fees, nominal damages, order closure until defendant has fully complied with the ADA, and other relief the court deems just. She is represented by Peter Kristofer Strojnik of The Strojnik Firm LLC in Phoenix.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California case number 1:17-cv-01630