LOS ANGELES – A wheelchair user alleges he was unable to grind coffee at a Lakewood business because the grinders were mounted too high for him to reach.
Luis Marquez filed a complaint on April 29 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against Summerwood LP, Sancam Inc., Smart & Final Stores LLC; and Does 1-10 over alleged violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Unruh Civil Rights Act.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff is a paraplegic. He alleges in March, he went to defendants' Smart and Final store to buy coffee and encountered various barriers that denied him full and equal access to the facility as a disabled person. He alleges the coffee grinders were mounted too high and the check stand counters were too high as well.
The plaintiff holds Summerwood LP, Sancam Inc., Smart & Final Stores LLC and Does 1-10 responsible because the defendants allegedly failed to remove architectural barriers when such removal is readily available.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks injunctive relief, actual damages and a statutory minimum of $4,000, attorney fees, litigation expenses and costs of suit. He is represented by Chris Carson, Ray Ballister, Phyl Grace and Dennis Price of Center for Disability Access in San Diego.
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California case number 2:18-cv-03609-R-E