ADA lawsuit against Connecticut motel dismissed

A federal appeals court overturned a lower court Tuesday and held a plaintiff who charged a Connecticut motel with violating the Americans with Disability Act cannot pursue her litigation because she had no definite plans to visit the facility.

In April, another federal appeals court had ruled in the same plaintiff’s favor in a similar case.

Deborah Laufer sued Woodstock, Virginia-based Ganesha Hospitality LLC in July 2020, alleging it violated the ADA, according to the ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York in Deborah Laufer v. Ganesha Hospitality LLC.

Ms. Laufer said Ganesha’s Quality Inn Cromwell in Cromwell, Connecticut, failed to comply with the ADA by not modifying its practices to ensure that individuals with disabilities could make reservations for accessible guest rooms during the same hours and in the same manner as those who did not need accessible rooms.

The U.S. District Court in New Haven, Connecticut, denied Ganesha’s motion to dismiss the case, which a three-judge appeals court panel overturned.

“Laufer lacks standing in this case,” the ruling said, citing an earlier ruling by the appeals court. “Laufer did not allege concrete plans to visit Connecticut, let alone Quality Inn Cromwell” when she said she intended to travel throughout the state when the COVID-19 crisis ends, the ruling said, in overturning the lower court and dismissing the case.

Attorneys in the case did not respond to requests for comment.

In its contrary ruling, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta reinstated Ms. Laufer’s ADA lawsuit against a Tallahassee, Florida, motel in Deborah Laufer vs. Arpan LLC, d.b.a. America’s Best Value Inn.

The decision said, “We conclude that under existing precedent — both our own and the Supreme Court’s — that Laufer has alleged a concrete intangible injury.”