Osborne v. Yasmeh
Annotate this CasePlaintiff John Flowers, a parapalegic, along with his wife and stepsons, filed suit alleging violations of the Unruh Civil Rights Act, Civil Code 512, and intentional infliction of emotional distress when defendants refused to rent them a room unless they first paid a non-refundable cleaning fee relating to their service dog. Because plaintiffs left the hotel without paying the fee, defendants argued, they did not have standing to assert an Unruh Act cause of action. The trial court sustained defendants’ demurrers without leave to amend. While the court agreed with the result of Surrey v. True Beginnings, the court concluded that its bright-line rule that, under the Unruh Act, a person must tender the purchase price for a business’s services or products in order to have standing to sue, is not applicable to the facts of this case. Section 52, which provides remedies for violations of the Unruh Act, states that any person aggrieved by conduct that violates the Unruh Act may bring a civil action. The court concluded that plaintiffs have stated facts sufficient to establish standing under the Act. The court held that a plaintiff is not required to pay a discriminatory fee to establish standing to sue under the Unruh Act, as long as the plaintiff alleges facts showing that he or she has directly experienced a denial of rights as defined in sections 51 and 52. In addition, when a disabled individual has standing to sue under section 52, subdivision (c), any person “associated with” that individual has standing if the associated person has also directly experienced the discriminatory conduct. Therefore, the court reversed and remanded.
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