49ers Stadium Class Action Settlement Website is Established

A website has been set up to let Class Members know about their rights under a class action lawsuit that claims football fans with mobility disabilities don’t have equal access to the San Francisco 49ers stadium.

A trial has been set to hear the case in November 2019.

U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh decided to pause the suit this past February and denied bids for partial summary judgement for each side.

The Forty Niners class action claims that there are more than 2,500 barriers at and around Levi’s Stadium that violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Judge Koh instructed both the 49ers team and the fans to each choose six barriers to bring up in court at the trial.

According to Judge Koh, “the court and the jury cannot conduct an eight-day jury trial of over 2,500 alleged access barriers analyzed under three separate building code standards for potentially 7,500 separate analyses.”

Judge Koh also required both parties to make clarifications regarding their chosen barriers, and indicate which building codes and requirements apply to which barriers.

Allegedly, the companies denied those with mobile disabilities “full and equal access to Levi’s Stadium” by placing access barriers in the stadium, in the parking lots, shuttles, and pedestrian right of way leading to the stadium.

A 49ers class action lawsuit claimed the football team violated the California Unruh Civil Rights Act by not ensuring that people with mobility disabilities have equal access to the facilities.

The class action seeks to represent anyone who has a mobility disability who uses a wheelchair, scooter, or other aid for mobility who purchased, tried to purchase, or for whom someone else purchased a ticket for accessible seating at Levi’s Stadium on or after April 13, 2015.

Consumers are seeking from the 49ers statutory minimum damages of $4,000 for each Class Member for each event that they were denied full and equal access.

No money is available now, because the Forty Niners class action lawsuit has not yet gone to trial or reached a settlement.

The Forty Niners class action lawsuit website notes that there is no guarantee that money or benefits will ever come from this case.

The Forty Niners accessibility class action lawsuit was filed by Abdul and Priscilla Nevarez and by Sebastian DeFrancesco in December 2016.

Abdul Nevarez says that he uses a wheelchair for mobility, and that he and his wife, Priscilla, have been longtime fans of the Forty Niners football team and often attend games with their family.

DeFrancsecso says that he is a fan of the Forty Niners, and holds season tickets. He says he is a quadriplegic who uses a wheelchair for mobility.

The three Forty Niners fans say that there are physical barriers to access at Levi’s stadium that prevent them from having full and equal access to the facilities and the services. They claim that these barriers represent a violation of Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act and California’s Unruh Civil Right Act.

The fans say that they “have been denied full and equal access and/or deterred from visiting the Stadium during the three years preceding the filing of [their Forty Niners class action lawsuit], have been embarrassed and humiliated, and suffered damages.”

The fans seek an injunctive relief requiring the Forty Niners to make their facilities accessible to people with disabilities, and seek statutory damages under the Unruh Act.

The fans received Class certification for their 49ers accessibility class action lawsuit in July last year, and in December last year, they settled their claims against Ticketmaster and Live Nation. This settlement deal was reached after three months of arbitration.

The 49ers fans are represented by Guy B. Wallace and Mark T. Johnson of Schneider Wallace Cottrell Konecky Wotkyns LLP, Linda M. Dardarian, Andrew P. Lee and Katharine L. Fisher of Goldstein Borgen Dardarian & Ho, and Adam B. Wolf and Catherine Cabalo of Peiffer Wolf Carr & Kane.

The Forty Niners Accessibility Class Action Lawsuit is Abdul Nevarez, et al. v. Forty Niners Football Company LLC, et al., Case No. 5:16-cv-07013-LHK, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division.

UPDATE: On Oct. 7, 2019, the San Francisco 49ers reached a new $24 million settlement with fans who claim that Levi’s Stadium has thousand of non-compliant access barriers that prevent those with mobility disabilitiesfrom enjoying the game. 

UPDATE 2: April 2020, the 49ers stadium class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.

UPDATE 3: On July 23, 2020, a federal judge in California granted final approval of a $24 million class action settlement in a case that pitted a Class of football fans against the San Francisco 49ers.

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