Jardine Gougis v. 300 West Colorado LLC

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

JARDINE GOUGIS, Case No. 2:23-cv-02789-SB-KS

Plaintiff,

v. ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE

300 WEST COLORADO LLC,

Defendant.

Plaintiff Jardine Gougis, who suffers from osteoarthritis and requires the use of a wheelchair, filed this suit alleging that Defendant’s jewelry store has parking facilities inadequate for persons with disabilities, 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. § 367(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 Section 1367(c):

The district courts may decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over a claim under…