Opinion ID: 618113
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Place of Public Accommodation

Text: Title III also prohibits any person who owns, leases . . ., or operates a place of public accommodation from discriminating on the basis of disability in any place of public accommodation. Id. § 12182(a). [7] The statute enumerates 12 categories of private entities that are considered public accommodations. Id. § 12181(7)(A)-(L). The only public accommodation category that is arguably relevant to this case is a terminal, depot, or other station used for specified public transportation. Id. § 12181(7)(G). The term specified public transportation, as defined in § 12181(10), limits when a terminal, depot, or other station may qualify as a public accommodation under Title III. Terminals, depots, or other stations are considered public accommodations under this category only if they are used for modes of transportation that fall within the statutory definition of specified public transportation, id. § 12181(7)(G)namely, transportation by bus, rail, or any other conveyance ( other than by aircraft ) that provides the general public with general or special services (including charter service) on a regular and continuing basis, id. § 12181(10) (emphasis added). Terminal, depot, or other station, considered in conjunction with the aircraft exclusion, is most naturally read to exclude a facility in which surface or underground transportation is merely an auxiliary function and the facility is primarily devoted to air travel. Such a facility is not a terminal, depot, or other station pursuant to § 12181(7). Cf. ADA Title III Technical Assistance Manual Covering Public Accommodations and Commercial Facilities III-1.2000 (1993) (In order to be considered a public accommodation with title III obligations, an entity must be private and it must . . . [f]all within at least one of the following 12 categories: . . . Public transportation terminals, depots, or stations ( not including facilities relating to air transportation ). . . . (emphasis added)). Accordingly, public transportation terminals, depots, or stations used primarily to facilitate air transportation are not public accommodation[s] for purposes of Title III of the ADA. [8] In this case, Lopez fails to state a claim under § 12182 because the alleged discrimination occurred at a facility used primarily for air transportation, and Title III does not contemplate a claim against an air carrier under those circumstances.