Alumni Cruises, LLC v. Carnival Corp.

• Decision Date: 12 December 2013
• Docket Number: Case No. 12–22396–CIV.
• Citation: 987 F.Supp.2d 1290
• Parties: ALUMNI CRUISES, LLC, d/b/a Autism on the Seas, Plaintiff, v. CARNIVAL CORPORATION, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Florida

987 F.Supp.2d 1290

ALUMNI CRUISES, LLC, d/b/a Autism on the Seas, Plaintiff,

v.CARNIVAL CORPORATION, Defendant.

Case No. 12–22396–CIV.

United States District Court, S.D. Florida.

Dec. 12, 2013.

Joshua Michael Entin, Entin & Della Fera, P.A., Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Nolan Keith Klein, Law Offices of Nolan Klein, P.A., Hollywood, FL, for Plaintiff.

Michael Scott Olin, Alaina R. Fotiu–Wojtowicz, Michael S. Olin, P.A., Miami, FL, for Defendant.

ORDER ON DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

ROBIN S. ROSENBAUM, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on Defendant Carnival Corporation's Motion for Summary Judgment [ECF No. 32]. The Court has reviewed Defendant's Motion, all supporting and opposing filings, and the record. For the reasons that follow, the Court now grants in part and denies in part Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment.

I. Background and Material Facts

Plaintiff Alumni Cruises, LLC, doing business as Autism on the Seas (“AOTS”), describes itself as a “Developmental Disability Cruise Service Provider” that “works with multiple cruise lines in order to provide vacation opportunities for developmentally disabled adults and families of children living with [a]utism, Down Syndrome, [c]erebral [p]alsy, Asperger['s] Syndrome, and other cognitive, intellectual and developmental disabilities.” ECF No. 1 at ¶ 3. In exchange for a fee, see ECF No. 32–1 at 45:8–:24, AOTS coordinates with cruise lines to facilitate a vacation experience more responsive to AOTS's clients' special needs. Among other services, AOTS both secures the agreement of cruise lines to provide special services and arrangements to AOTS's clients and provides its own staff onboard to assist with its clients' needs.¹

AOTS and its clients have taken a number of cruises with Defendant Carnival Corporation. While AOTS concedes that Carnival has been somewhat accommodating of AOTS's clients' special needs, AOTS filed the pending lawsuit because it asserts that, under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (“ADA”), Carnival is required to make additional accommodations for AOTS's clients that Carnival is either averse to provide or unwilling to acknowledge that such accommodations are required by law.

The Complaint in this case alleges that Carnival has violated the ADA in a number of ways and suggests that Carnival is required to provide guests with developmental disabilities with certain reasonable accommodations, including the following: ²

1. Camp Carnival: “[T]he hiring of a sufficient number of properly trained and skilled staff. Such staff must be available on sequential shifts, at all times when Carnival daycare is open to children.” ECF No. 1 at 9.

2. Carnival Teen Club: “[T]he hiring of a sufficient number of properly trained and skilled staff to provide similar services and activities [to those offered at Carnival Teen Club], in a similar environment. Acceptable similar environments can include an alternate venue or same teen club venue. Such staff must be available on sequential shifts, at all times when Carnival teen club is open to teens.” Id. at 10.

3. Port check-in: “Families of developmentally disabled individuals should be permitted to either check-in via an expedited check-in counter or by an expedited process designed for families with a developmentally disabled guest, and position trained staff members at the check-in and embarkation waiting areas in order to greet and assist developmentally disabled passengers while waiting for ship embarkation (after check-in).” Id. at 10–11.

4. Muster drill: “Provide a designated muster drill area for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families, with an amended process for communicating drill information. Provide trained staff to assist in the specially designated muster drill area in order to help with handling and care of guests with special needs, and provide headsets for individuals with special needs who are affected by drill alarms.” Id. at 11.

5. Dining room: “Position tables for developmentally disabled guests against walls that have windows, in order to allow guests to access the windows and occupy their time while waiting for service, without disrupting other cruise guests. Provide for expedited food service for families with developmentally disabled children, keeping in place the overall process, but expediting so that it lasts for no more than forty-five (45) minutes. Provide skilled staff to assist families during dinner and to attend disabled guests when needed and when disability characteristics manifest.” Id. at 11–12.

6. Use of venues: “Provide specified times when these venues are reserved for developmentally disabled guests and provide for skilled staff to accompany and assist guests in these venues.” Id. at 12.

7. Photo opportunities: “Provide private opportunities for developmentally disabled guests to have their picture taken at a specified time each day, or at least 50% of the number of the nights of the cruise, and provide staff to assist families and to attend to the guests in the event that disability characteristics manifest themselves during photo opportunities.” Id. at 13.

8. Tender: “Provide a specific time of day when families with developmentally disabled children can board an otherwise empty tender and provide such families with a designated space large enough for each child to have sufficient room to move. Provide trained staff to accompany families on the tender to attend to the guests and to assist as needed when disability characteristics manifest themselves. Provide staff trained to be able to accompany such guests when in port and to return with them on the tender for assistance.” Id. at 13.

9. Port excursions: “Provide a properly trained staff member to accompany developmentally disabled persons upon request.” Id. at 14.

10. Disembarkation: “Families of developmentally disabled individuals should be permitted to disembark by an expedited disembarkation process to be designed by Carnival in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations applicable to the disembarkation process.” Id.

11 Publication of services: “Publicize availability of services and facilities that provide fair and equal access to developmentally disabled persons on each Carnival cruise, as long as guests inform Carnival Corporation, or as long guests inform an affiliated “Developmental Disability Cruise Service Provider” 60 days prior to the cruise.” Id.For its part, Carnival submits evidence—including admissions by Michael Sobbell, the owner of AOTS—that Carnival has provided many of the accommodations described above. But Sobbell has also testified that Carnival has been inconsistent in making some of these accommodations, and, despite the provision of the accommodations that it has given, Carnival insists that the law does not require it to make any of the requested accommodations. In addition, Carnival contends—without citation to any evidence—that implementing the requested modifications to Camp Carnival would impose “administrative and financial burdens on Carnival that fundamentally alter the nature of the Camp Carnival program.” ECF No. 32 at 25. Thus, Carnival seeks summary judgment that the ADA does not require it to make any modifications for people with developmental disabilities.

II. Discussion

A. Standard on a Motion for Summary Judgment

Summary judgment is appropriate “if the pleadings, the discovery and disclosure materials on file, and any affidavits show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). An issue is genuine if “a reasonable trier of fact could return judgment for the non-moving party.” Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Fla. v. United States, 516 F.3d 1235, 1243 (11th Cir.2008) (quoting Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247–48, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986)). A fact is material if it “might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law.” Id. (quoting Anderson, 477 U.S. at 247–48, 106 S.Ct. 2505).

On a motion for summary judgment, the Court views the evidence, including all reasonable inferences drawn from it, in the light most favorable to the non-moving party and resolves all reasonable doubts against the movant. Rioux v. City of Atlanta, Ga., 520 F.3d 1269, 1274 (11th Cir.2008); Johnson v. City of Mobile, 321 Fed.Appx. 826, 830 (11th Cir.2009). The Court does not weigh conflicting evidence. Skop v. City of Atlanta, 485 F.3d 1130, 1140 (11th Cir.2007), reh'g and reh'g en banc denied,254 Fed.Appx. 803 (11th Cir.2007). Nor does the Court determine the credibility of witnesses. Jones v. UPS Ground Freight, 683 F.3d 1283, 1292 (11th Cir.2012) (citation omitted). Upon discovering a genuine material dispute, the Court must deny summary judgment and proceed to trial. Id. at 1292.

The moving party shoulders the initial burden of showing the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. Shiver v. Chertoff, 549 F.3d 1342, 1343 (11th Cir.2008). Once the moving party satisfies this burden, “the nonmoving party ‘must do more than simply show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts.’ ” Ray v. Equifax Info. Servs., L.L.C., 327 Fed.Appx. 819, 825 (11th Cir.2009) (quoting Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986)). Instead, “the non-moving party ‘must make a sufficient showing on each essential element of the case for which he has the burden of proof.’ ” Id. (quoting Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986)). Accordingly, the non-moving party must produce evidence, going beyond the pleadings, and by his own affidavits, or by depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, designate specific facts suggesting that a reasonable jury could find in his favor. Shiver, 549 F.3d at 1343.

Local Rule 56.1, S.D. Fla., further factors into this Court's...