NEW ORLEANS — Fresh Market has been granted a stay of a motion brought by a plaintiff alleging numerous Americans with Disabilities Act violations.
Howard Cohan filed a complaint on June 5 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana against Fresh Market Inc., alleging violation of American with Disabilities Act. The plaintiff, a resident of Palm Beach County, Fla., and is bringing claims against Fresh Market under Title III with the Americans with Disabilities Act, alleging the defendant made barriers to accessing ADA.
On Oct. 15, 2018, the plaintiff entered into multiple settlement agreements in which the plaintiff agreed to provide the Fresh Market with notice of any alleged ADA compliance issues at the stores and allow Fresh Market 60 days to cure any deficiencies, which constitutes the plaintiff filing a lawsuit. On Sept. 24, 2018, the plaintiff filed a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief, which outlined the architectural barriers at Fresh Market in Baton Rouge. In November 2018, Fresh Market notified counsel for the plaintiff that it had addressed the purported noncompliance and requested that the case be dismissed.
The plaintiff, however, still found several barriers and visited two other Fresh Market stores and found the same issues.
On Feb. 13, 2019, the plaintiff filed an amended complaint outlining the same barriers at the Fresh Market stores in question. The Fresh Market has filed a motion to stay proceedings on March 15, 2019 and on April 1, 2019, the plaintiff filed an opposition memorandum which the Fresh Market replied to on April 15, 2019.
The court has ruled in favor of granting a stay. The plaintiff’s claims are limited to those alleged in his amended complaint.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana Case No. is 2:18-cv-08883.