Alfredo Kuba v. Sea World, Inc.

MEMORANDUM

Alfredo Kuba and San Diego Animal Advocates (“Plaintiffs”) appeal the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Sea World, Inc. Plaintiffs’ § 1983 action charges that Sea World abridged their First Amendment rights by prohibiting staged protests inside its paid entrance parking lots. Because it concluded that Plaintiffs failed to demonstrate the state action necessary to establish a violation of § 1983, the district court held that the § 1983 claim failed. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

I.

To prevail on a § 1983 claim, plaintiffs must establish that Sea World acted “under color of state law.” Brentwood Acad., v. Tenn. Secondary Sch. Athletic Ass’n, 531 U.S. 288 , 295 n. 2, 121 S.Ct. 924 , 148 L.Ed.2d 807 (2001). Sea World is undeniably a private entity, but its actions may nonetheless be attributed to the state if it has been endowed with powers or functions traditionally governmental in nature; it willfully participated in joint action with the state; it acted under the coerced influence of the state; or a sufficiently close nexus exists between the state and the challenged action. See Franklin v. Fox, 312 F.3d 423, 444-45…