Moises Villalobos v. Ramcast Ornamental Supply Company, Inc.; Ismael Ramirez as General Partner of Ramirez Properties, a General Partnership; and Does 1 to 10

Summary

The United States District Court for the Central District of California orders Plaintiff Moises Villalobos to show cause why the Court should exercise supplemental jurisdiction over his state-law claims arising from alleged disability-access violations. The Court requests information about the statutory damages sought and declarations addressing whether Plaintiff or his counsel qualifies as a high-frequency litigant under California law, warning that inadequate compliance may result in declining supplemental jurisdiction.

Holdings

1. The court did not yet decide whether to exercise supplemental jurisdiction; instead, it ordered Villalobos to show cause in writing why the court should retain the state-law claims and warned that failure to respond could result in declining supplemental jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c).
2. The court ordered Villalobos and his counsel to support their response with declarations under penalty of perjury addressing the number of construction-related accessibility claims filed by Villalobos and the number of such claims in which counsel represented high-frequency-litigant plaintiffs during the preceding twelve months.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the court should exercise supplemental jurisdiction over Villalobos's Unruh Act, California Disabled Persons Act, California Health and Safety Code, and negligence claims.
2. Whether Villalobos and his counsel must provide information and declarations concerning statutory damages and their status under California's high-frequency-litigant provisions.

Disposition

other