Barnum

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff and appellant, Carl L. Barnum III, sued defendants and respondents,

Redlands Muffler and Brake (RMB) in Redlands and the Fred Edsell and Susan Edsell

1 Revocable Trust, the owners of the property on which RMB operates its business.

Barnum seeks statutory damages from defendants for multiple violations of the Unruh

Civil Rights Act (the UCRA) (Civ. Code, § 51 et seq.),1 plus attorney fees. Barnum, a

disabled person who holds a disabled parking space placard, alleges there were no

disabled parking spaces at RMB when he attempted to patronize the business on eight

occasions in March, April, and May 2011.

The court granted defendant’s motion for judgment on the pleadings on the ground

Barnum was judicially estopped from asserting his UCRA claims because he did not

disclose them as assets in his chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding after the bankruptcy court

ordered the bankruptcy proceeding reopened.2 (Hamilton v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co.

(9th Cir. 2001) 270 F.3d 778, 782-785 (Hamilton) [judicial estoppel bars bankrupt debtor

from later pursuing claims he did not disclose as assets in his bankruptcy proceeding].)

Barnum appeals, claiming he was…