On January 15, 2015, the Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center (CREEC), along with several individuals, brought this action against RLJ Hospitality Trust, Inc. RLJ operates twelve hotels in the state of California, as well as many hotels elsewhere in the United States. Plaintiffs alleged that RLJ violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and California's Unruh Civil Rights Act by failing to provide wheelchair accessible vehicles at its hotels.

The three individual plaintiffs each require wheelchairs for mobility. Each alleged that he or she was deterred from staying at RLJ's hotels in Northern California by RLJ's lack of wheelchair-accessible shuttle services. The three plaintiffs explained that they hoped to stay at RLJ's hotels in the future and that they would do so if they learned that RLJ provides wheelchair-accessible vehicles. Plaintiffs brought the action on behalf of a class defined as individuals who rely on wheelchairs or scooters for mobility and have been, or will be, denied full and equal enjoyment of RLJ's services because of the lack of accessible transportation services at RLJ's hotels. They requested a permanent injunction requiring RLJ to comply with the two aforementioned statutes.

The case was assigned to Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. On May 1, 2015, the parties agreed to resolve the dispute by using a private mediator. The parties met on June 30, 2015 for an all-day settlement conference and agreed to continue the negotiations in good faith, though no settlement had been reached by the initial case management conference before Judge Gonzalez Rogers on September 21, 2015, where the Judge set a date for a bench trial in May, 2016.

On November 2, 2015, the plaintiffs filed a first amended complaint. On November 5, 2015, the parties reached an agreement and proposed a settlement. The settlement ensured that the hotels currently owned by RLJ that provide transportation to guests in the future will also provide equivalent wheelchair accessible transportation, with third party and plaintiff attorney monitoring of RLJ's compliance for a default of two years and up to three years if RLJ fails to comply within those first two years. The plaintiffs asked the court to certify the class in order to approve the class action settlement.

Judge Gonzalez Rogers granted the preliminary approval of the class action settlement and the certification of the settlement class on January 25, 2016, and final approval on May 3, 2016. The class was defined as "all individuals who use wheelchairs or scooters for mobility who, from January 15, 2013, to the date of the preliminary approval of the Settlement [January 25, 2016], have been denied the full and equal enjoyment of transportation services offered to guests at Hotels owned and/or operated by RLJ because of the lack of equivalent accessible transportation services at those Hotels." The plaintiffs moved for attorney fees and costs on March 7, 2016, which Judge Gonzalez Rogers also granted on May 3, 2016. The case is now closed. 2016 WL 314400.

Spencer Klein - 03/15/2015
Rachel Carpman - 11/19/2018


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