Whether Ada Applied To Foreign Flag Cruise Ships Put On Hold Pending Ruling In Another Case
DISABLED AMERICANS FOR EQUAL ACCESS, INC. Plaintiff, EDUARDOUMPIERRE, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. FERRIES DEL CARIBE, INC., Defendant, Appellee.
No. 04-2086
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT
2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 7091
April 26, 2005, Decided
PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Plaintiff individual and organization sued defendant cruise vessel operator, seeking injunctive relief, attorney's fees, and costs for violations of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C.S. § 12181 et seq., and its implementing regulations. The United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico granted the operator's motion to dismiss. The individual appealed.
OVERVIEW: The individual had standing to raise the ADA claim because his allegations that he visited the operator's vessel and that various barriers to accessibility endangered his safety were sufficient to show a real and immediate threat of discrimination by the operator. Moreover, the individual had stated a claim for relief by alleging that the operator's land based facilities violated the ADA. Taking judicial note of a pending case addressing precise question of whether Title III applied to foreign-flagged ships, the appellate court instructed the district court to defer further proceedings until a decision in that case was available. If the legal or factual resolution of the foreign-flagged ship issue did not preclude application of Title III to the operator's cruise vessel, the district court also was to consider on remand whether the individual's vessel-based statutory and regulatory claims under Title III and 28 C.F.R. §§ 36.302-36.305 could proceed despite the absence of a separate category of regulations governing the new construction and alteration of cruise ships.
OUTCOME: The district court's decision was vacated and the case was remanded for further proceedings.
