Marsh

Plaintiff is a quadriplegic confined to a wheelchair. He commenced this action against the defendant, an owner and operator of a chain of motion picture theatres, alleging that the latter unlawfully discriminated against him because of his physical handicap by denying him admission to its Newport Cinema Theatre.

The complaint alleged that defendant’s conduct violated various provisions of the United States Constitution as well as federal and state statutes. The prayer was for compensatory, statutory and punitive damages and an injunction against future violations.

The case was tried, and properly so, on the basis of California statutory law. Defendant’s business is a private venture. No public funds are involved nor is there any governmental action or participation in the maintenance or operation of defendant’s theatres. Furthermore, in this case, defendant did not seek to invoke state action in the form of judicial process against the plaintiff. The court was not asked to enforce a discriminatory state law nor to lend judicial assistance to discrimination by a private person. (Cf. Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S. 1 [ 92 L.Ed. 1161 , 68 S.Ct. 836 , 3 A.L.R.2d 441 ]; Marsh…