Brooke v. Paligroup Management LLC

Summary

The United States District Court for the Southern District of California declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over Theresa Brooke’s California Unruh Civil Rights Act claim against Paligroup Management LLC. The court concluded that Brooke was a high-frequency litigant under California law and that filing the claim in federal court to avoid heightened state pleading requirements constituted an exceptional circumstance. The Unruh Act claim was dismissed without prejudice, while the court had not yet ruled on the federal Americans with Disabilities Act claims.

Holdings

1. A plaintiff qualifies as a high-frequency litigant when ten or more construction-related accessibility complaints were filed on the plaintiff's behalf and at the plaintiff's direction during the relevant twelve-month period; the fact that counsel physically or electronically filed the complaints does not exempt the plaintiff.
2. The Court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over Plaintiff's Unruh Act claim under 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c)(4) and dismissed the claim without prejudice.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Plaintiff qualified as a high-frequency litigant under California Code of Civil Procedure section 425.55(b)(1) when her attorney filed the complaints on her behalf and at her direction.
2. Whether exceptional circumstances and the relevant Gibbs factors justified declining supplemental jurisdiction over Plaintiff's California Unruh Act claim under 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c)(4).

Disposition

dismissed