Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc. v. Lob, Inc.
| Decision Date | 20 April 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. B-96-914.,B-96-914. |
| Citation | 92 F.Supp.2d 456 |
| Parties | BALTIMORE NEIGHBORHOODS, INC., and Kevin Beverly, v. LOB INC., and Lions Gate Garden Condominiums, Inc. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Maryland |
Lauren E. Willis, Andrew D. Levy, Brown, Goldstein & Levy, LLC, Baltimore, MD, for plaintiffs.
Michael P. Darrow, M. Evelyn Spurgin, Hillman, Brown, Darrow Annapolis, MD, for defendant LOB, Inc. Frederick C. Sussman, Susan Stobbart Shapiro, Council, Baradel, Kosmerl & Nolan, P.A., Annapolis, MD, for defendant Lions Gate Garden Condominium.
Bill Lann Lee, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, Joan A. Magagna, Chief, Brian F. Heffernan, Deputy Chief, Myron S. Lehtman, Attorney, Housing and Civil Enforcement Section of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, Washington, DC, Lynne A. Battaglia, United States Attorney and Perry Sekus, Assistant United States Attorney, Baltimore, MD, for United States as amicus curiae.
Plaintiffs, Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc. ("BNI") and Kevin Beverly bring this action against defendants LOB, Inc. and Lions Gate Garden Condominium, Inc. ("LGGCI") alleging violations of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12181 et seq., ("ADA") and the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 ("FHAA"), 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq., as amended. More specifically, plaintiffs allege that LOB violated the ADA, 42 U.S.C. § 12183(a)(1), by placing the sales center for Lions Gate Garden Condominiums ("Lions Gate") in a location that was inaccessible to persons with disabilities, and that LOB violated the FHAA, 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f), by designing and constructing specified ground floor units and the common use areas of Lions Gate so that they are not usable by persons who are mobility impaired. Plaintiffs seek monetary damages, declaratory relief, equitable relief and attorneys' fees.1
This case was tried to the Court from November 8, 1999 through November 16, 1999. Following the submission of posttrial briefs by the parties and a brief of the United States filed as amicus curiae in support of equitable relief, the Court heard closing argument on February 9, 2000. This Opinion constitutes the Court's findings of fact and conclusions of law pursuant to Rule 52(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
Lions Gate is a condominium development located in Odenton, Anne Arundel County, Maryland. The development consists of thirteen buildings, each containing twelve condominium units.2 Each of the buildings contains three floors, and each floor contains four units. All of the buildings have light grey siding, white trim, balconies, and an open stairwell in the middle of the building. The development is landscaped with various trees and shrubs, which are maturing. Currently, Lions Gate has approximately three hundred residents. The majority of the units are owner occupied, and many of the residents have children or pets.
Defendant LOB purchased the land to develop Lions Gate in 1990. LOB and John Rommel then formed Lions Gate Joint Venture to construct the development.3 Rommel Builders, a construction company in which John Rommel owns a 50% interest, was responsible for constructing the buildings, and LOB was responsible for developing the exterior, including the roads, curbs, gutters and storm drains.4
Plaintiff BNI is a private nonprofit organization that promotes equal housing opportunities in the Baltimore/Washington area. BNI has approximately seven hundred members, twenty-five of whom live in Anne Arundel County, and four or five of whom use a wheelchair for mobility. According to Martin Dyer, the Associate Director of BNI, the organization is involved in such activities as fair housing enforcement tenant-landlord counseling, tenant organizing, and counseling for persons with Section 8 certificates who are seeking housing in the suburbs.
In 1993, BNI began testing multifamily dwellings for compliance with the FHAA and ADA. In February 1996, BNI hired plaintiff Kevin Beverly to test Lions Gate after a survey of the development revealed widespread inaccessibility. Beverly testified that at the time he tested Lions Gate he was also looking for a new home for his family. Beverly has limited use of his legs and uses a wheelchair for mobility.
When Beverly arrived at Lions Gate, he discovered that the sales office was located on the second floor of one of the buildings. Beverly testified that gaining access to the building would have required him to go down a flight of stairs. He then would have been required to go up a flight of stairs to gain access to the second floor sales office. Because the stairs prevented Beverly from entering the sales office, he remained in his vehicle and called the telephone number on the sales sign from his car phone. When a sales representative answered, Beverly stated that he was outside the office and that he was interested in purchasing a two-bedroom wheelchair accessible unit. The representative proceeded to give Beverly a "sales pitch" about Lions Gate. She also informed Beverly that they did not have any wheelchair accessible units for sale, but a condominium owner was selling a unit that had been modified to make it handicapped accessible. At the conclusion of the conversation, the sales representative instructed Beverly to call and make an appointment if he was interested in that unit.
After testing Lions Gate, Beverly and BNI filed this action alleging that the defendants failed to meet the accessability requirements of the FHAA and ADA.5 On March 15, 1999, the Court granted summary judgment as to liability in favor of plaintiffs on most of their claims. Specifically, the Court found defendants LOB, John Rommel, and Rommel Builders jointly and severally liable for the following violations under § 3604(f) of the FHAA: (1) insufficiently wide interior doorways inside all ground floor units in Buildings 3-12; (2) a step up into every ground floor unit in Buildings 3-12 and a step down to every balcony in the ground floor units in Buildings 3-13; (3) insufficient clearance space to maneuver on the latch side of a door with a closer in the rear ground floor units of Buildings 3-13; (4) twist doorknobs on exterior doors of all ground floor units in Buildings 3-13; (5) insufficient clearance in bathrooms in all ground floor units of Buildings 3-13; (6) unadjustable countertops in kitchens in all ground floor units of Buildings 3-13; and (7) insufficient clearance in kitchens of rear units of Buildings 3-13. See Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc. v. Rommel Builders, Inc., 40 F.Supp.2d 700, 713-14 (D.Md.1999). The Court also found defendants LOB and John Rommel jointly and severally liable for (1) a lack of handicapped parking and (2) the existence of steps in the sidewalks between the parking and Buildings 3-13. See Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc., 40 F.Supp.2d at 713-14.
On the first day of trial, plaintiffs informed the Court that they had reached a settlement agreement with defendants Rommel Builders, Inc. and John A. Rommel. Additionally, plaintiffs are not seeking liability against defendant LGGCI. Nonetheless, the Court agreed to keep LGGCI as a party because they have architectural control of the common areas and their presence is imperative in order to afford full relief. See id. at 712.
The remaining issues to be determined are: (1) whether Lions Gate contained an inaccessible sales center in violation of the ADA; (2) whether the existing walls in the bathrooms of the ground floor units of Buildings 3-12 are reinforced in accordance with the FHAA to allow the later installation of grab bars; and (3) what relief should the Court grant plaintiffs.
The Court first addresses the remaining issues regarding liability. As to the sales center, plaintiffs assert that LOB violated § 12183(a)(1) of the ADA because LOB designed and constructed the Lions Gate sales center in a manner that was inaccessible to Beverly because of his disability. In response, LOB asserts that plaintiffs' ADA claim is moot because LOB closed the last model unit which temporarily served as rental sales offices and does not intend to reopen it. LOB also asserts that the model units are not required to be handicapped accessible under the ADA.
Before the Court can proceed to plaintiffs' substantive claim, the Court must first resolve the threshold issue of mootness. "Federal courts have no jurisdiction to decide moot cases because of the case or controversy requirement of Article III of the Constitution." Virginia ex rel. Coleman v. Califano, 631 F.2d 324, 326 (4th Cir.1980). As the Supreme Court has explained, "no justiciable controversy is presented ... when the parties are asking for an advisory opinion, [or] when the question sought to be adjudicated has been mooted by subsequent developments ..." Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S. 83, 95, 88 S.Ct. 1942, 20 L.Ed.2d 947 (1968). A case is not moot, however, simply because the defendant voluntarily ceases the allegedly illegal conduct. See United States v. W.T. Grant Co., 345 U.S. 629, 632, 73 S.Ct. 894, 97 L.Ed. 1303 (1953). "This rule is derived from the notion that a challenged practice or policy might always evade review by being voluntarily abated during the pendency of a legal challenge thus leaving the defendant `free to return to his old ways.'" Knight v. Mills, 836 F.2d 659, 670 (1st Cir.1987) (quoting W.T. Grant, 345 U.S. at 632-33, 73 S.Ct. 894). Concluding that such a case is moot would entitle a defendant to a dismissal as a matter of right whenever the defendant voluntarily ceased his illegal conduct prior to judgement. See W.T. Grant, 345 U.S. at 632, 73 S.Ct. 894. "[C]ourts have rightly refused to grant defendants such a powerful weapon against public law enforcement." Id. at 632, 73 S.Ct. 894. Therefore, courts place a heavy burden on defendants to demonstrate mootness in a case where there...
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