Maria Garcia v. Azteca Mexican Restaurant Corp.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

MARIA GARCIA, Case No. 2:24-cv-07520-SB-PVC

Plaintiff,

v. ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE

AZTECA MEXICAN RESTAURANT

CORP. et al.,

Defendants.

Plaintiff Maria Garcia, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, filed this suit alleging that Defendants failed to maintain adequate parking facilities, in violation of, inter alia, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Unruh Act. Dkt. No. 1.

Because Plaintiff’s Unruh Act claim is closely related to her ADA claim, the Court has authority to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the Unruh Act claim under 28 U.S.C. § 1367(a). However, supplemental jurisdiction “is a doctrine of discretion, not of plaintiff’s right,” and district courts “can decline to exercise jurisdiction over pendent claims for a number of valid reasons.” City of Chi. v. Int’l Coll. of Surgeons, 522 U.S. 156, 172 (1997) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). This discretion is codified in § 1367(c):

The district courts may decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over a claim under subsection (a) if— (1) the claim raises a novel or complex…