Guitar Center Hit with ADA Class Action Lawsuit

A class action lawsuit was filed against Guitar Center Inc., a large musical instrument retail chain, alleging the company does not adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act because of accessibility barriers and lack of handicap parking and restroom accommodations.

Lead plaintiff Hector Velarde filed the putative class action lawsuit in a Los Angeles Superior Court. He alleges that he visited a Guitar Center in California and was unable to access parts of the store because he is dependant on a wheelchair. Specifically, Velarde alleges he was unable to access the restroom because he was unable to open the door and when someone opened the door for him, it would not stay open long enough for him to get in.

Velarde also alleges that the soap and water dispensers in the restroom were too high for him to use, as was the seat cover dispenser. “In addition to setting forth design and construction standards, the California Standards require public accommodations to maintain in operable working condition those features of facilities and equipment that are requires to be accessible to and useable by persons with disabilities,” the Guitar Center class action lawsuit says.

Additionally, according to the class action lawsuit, a private detective investigated other Guitar Center locations and found similar barriers to accessibility at those stores.

“Plaintiff has reasonable grounds to believe that [Guitar Center] will continue to subject him, and other disabled individuals to discrimination in violation of the laws of the State of California, given that [Guitar Center has] failed to bring existing stores into compliance for over thirty years and has allowed new stores to be constructed that were similarly out of compliance,” argued the plaintiff in the class action lawsuit.

Velarde claims that Guitar Center violated California’s accessibility law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, as well as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The Guitar Center class action lawsuit proposes a Class including all mobility impaired or wheelchair-bound people in California who have been denied full and equal access to Guitar Center stores. According to the filing, the plaintiff seeks statutory damages, attorneys’ feeds and costs, and injunctive relief on behalf of himself and his proposed Class.

“Plaintiff and others similarly situated have been denied access to the benefits of the goods, services, programs, facilities and activities of defendant’s stores, and have otherwise been discriminated against and have suffered damages caused by defendants’ accessibility violations,” Velarde argues in the Guitar Center class action lawsuit.

Velarde also claims that he wrote to Guitar Center about his alleged problems accessing their store in November, but never received a response. “To date, barriers and other violations still exist and have not been remedied or altered in such a way as to effectuate compliance with the provisions of the California Standards or the ADA,” he alleges in the Guitar Center class action lawsuit.

Velarde is represented by Evan J. Smith of Brodsky & Smith LLC.

The Guitar Center ADA Class Action Lawsuit is Velarde, et al v. Guitar Center Stores Inc., et al, Case No. B568252, in the Superior Court of California, Los Angeles County.