United States Ninth Circuit

Summary judgment in favor of defendant-city in an action alleging violations of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 and various California statutes, arising out of plaintiff's injuries suffered when he tripped and fell as he tried to walk around a car show vendor's display blocking a curb ramp that provided disabled access to a sidewalk in defendant-city, is reversed and remanded, where: 1) plaintiff is an elderly man suffering from dementia who requires a cane for mobility; 2) there was a genuine dispute of material fact as to whether defendant-city denied the plaintiff access to the sidewalk by reason of his disability; 3) the district court erred in reasoning that because the plaintiff could have accessed the sidewalk by taking a marginally longer route to a different curb ramp, he failed to establish that he was denied access to the sidewalk; and 4) here, defendant-city was in compliance with the ADA but allowed elimination of the disabled access it had built.

Appellate Information

• Decided 06/06/2014
• Published 06/06/2014

Judges

• WARDLAW

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel