LOS ANGELES (LN) — A federal judge in the Central District of California on Wednesday ordered plaintiff Deondre Raglin to show cause why the court should not decline supplemental jurisdiction over his state law claims in a construction-accessibility lawsuit, citing heightened pleading standards for repeat filers.
U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong issued the order on April 22, requiring Raglin to address whether he qualifies as a "high-frequency litigant" under California law and to disclose the amount of statutory damages he seeks.
The order targets Raglin's claims under the Unruh Civil Rights Act, the Disabled Persons Act, the Health and Safety Code, and negligence, which he filed alongside a federal Americans with Disabilities Act claim against defendants Amit C. Patel d/b/a Budge Inn and Sunsets Lakshmi LLC.
California law imposes a stricter pleading standard on plaintiffs bringing construction-access claims, requiring them to file verified complaints detailing specific barriers encountered and the dates they were deterred from accessing businesses.
The state also imposes a "high-frequency litigant fee" on plaintiffs who have filed 10 or more complaints alleging construction-related accessibility violations within the 12 months preceding the current filing.
Frimpong's order requires Raglin and his counsel to provide declarations under penalty of perjury detailing the number of such claims filed by Raglin and the number of high-frequency litigant plaintiffs represented by his counsel in the preceding year.
The judge also directed Raglin to state the reason he was in the geographic area of the defendant's business and why he desired to access the business.
Frimpong warned that failure to timely or adequately respond to the order could result in the court declining to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the state law claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c).
Raglin has 14 days of the order to file a response.