Opinion ID: 779234
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Other Cases

Text: 19 Other courts are in accord with this analysis. In Jairath v. Dyer, 154 F.3d 1280, 1281 (11th Cir.1998), the Eleventh Circuit applied Merrell Dow 's reasoning to a case brought under the ADA. The Jairath plaintiff brought suit in state court for damages under a Georgia state law that incorporated the ADA. Id. at 1281. The defendant removed the case to federal court, arguing that the statute's incorporation of the ADA created a substantial question of federal law. The district court agreed, and exercised federal question jurisdiction. The Eleventh Circuit reversed, holding that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the action. Id. at 1284. Finding the case closely analogous to Merrell Dow, the Eleventh Circuit concluded that the congressional intent not to provide a private damages remedy for this kind of violation is, in the instant case, just as it was in Merrell Dow, `tantamount to a congressional conclusion that the presence of a claimed violation of the statute as an element of a state case of action is insufficiently `substantial' to confer federal jurisdiction.' Id. 20 A California district court came to the same conclusion in Pickern v. Best Western Timber Cove Lodge Marina Resort, 194 F.Supp.2d 1128 (E.D.Cal.2002) (Pickern II), a case virtually indistinguishable from the one at bar. There, the plaintiff, like Wander, sued under the ADA and various state statutes, including the DPA, for access violations in a restaurant, marina, and hotel. Her suit sought injunctive relief under the ADA and damages under the DPA and other state statutes. Like Wander, the plaintiff's ADA action became moot during the course of her proceedings. Upon dismissal of the ADA claim, the district court was faced with the identical question before this Court: does the incorporation of the ADA into the DPA (via California Civil Code § 54.1(d)) as an element of liability for damages create federal question jurisdiction where the ADA is the only basis for the state claim? Citing both Jairath and Merrell Dow, Judge Shubb dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction, ruling that Congress's choice not to provide a damages remedy under the ADA signified a congressional conclusion that the presence of an ADA violation as an element of the DPA is insufficient to confer federal question jurisdiction. Pickern II, 194 F.Supp.2d at 1132-33. 21 As Judge Shubb pointed out, actions for damages under the DPA necessarily involve issues outside the scope of Title III of the ADA: 22 Damages for emotional distress ... require testimony regarding the effect of the defendant's actions on the plaintiff's mental and emotional health. Daily deterrence damages ... require plaintiffs to prove that they were deterred on a particular occasion from attempting to attend a place of public accommodation. This inquiry involves as much an examination of the plaintiff's mental state as it does an examination of the extent of the alleged ADA violations. Thus, the question of damages becomes the tail that wags the dog of the ADA issues. 23 Pickern II, 194 F.Supp.2d at 1132 (emphasis added). 24 In Pickern v. Stanton's Restaurant & Woodsman, No. C 01-2112 SI, 2002 WL 143817 (N.D.Cal. Jan.29, 2002) (Pickern I), a suit by the same plaintiff in a different California district court, Judge Illston reached the same conclusion. There, the parties settled the ADA claims and the claims for injunctive relief, leaving only state law claims for damages and attorney's fees. Id. at . Citing Jairath and Merrell Dow, the court held that allegations of ADA violations as an element of a state claim are insufficient to support federal question jurisdiction. Id. at .