Alexander Stern v. Sony Corporation of America

MEMORANDUM

Plaintiff-Appellant Alexander Stern appeals the district court’s grant of Defendant’s Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss. Under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), “[n]o individual shall be discriminated against on the basis of disability in the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of any place of public accommodation by any person who owns, leases (or leases to), or operates a place of public accommodation.” 42 U.S.C. § 12182 (a). In interpreting the term “place of public accommodation” in the context of the long list of “public accommodations” contained in § 12181(7) — all of which “are actual, physical places where goods or services are open to the public” — this Court has found that Title III requires “some connection between the good or service complained of and an actual physical place.” Weyer v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., 198 F.3d 1104, 1114 (9th Cir.2000). This view is supported by 28 C.F.R. § 36.104 , which specifies that a place of public accommodation is “a facility operated by a private entity,” and defines “facility” to mean “all or any portion of buildings,…