Calcano v. The Finish Line Inc.

OPINION AND ORDER   Marcos Calcano, on behalf of himself and all other persons similarly situated, brought this action against The Finish Line, Inc. on October 20, 2019 for a violation of his rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), the New York State Human Rights Law, and the New York City Human Rights Law. On March 6, 2020, Finish Line moved to dismiss the Complaint, in response to which Calcano filed an Amended Complaint on March 13, 2013. Now pending before the Court is Finish Line’s motion to dismiss the Amended Complaint. For the reasons discussed below, Finish Line’s motion to dismiss is GRANTED. I. BACKGROUND¹ Calcano is a legally-blind person who uses Braille to read written materials. Amend. Compl. 2. Calcano brings this action against Finish Line for its failure to sell store gift-cards with auxiliary aids and services, such as Braille. Id. 5. On October 29, 2019, Calcano alleges that he called Finish Line’s customer service center to purchase a gift card which contained Braille. Id. 16. The customer service representative informed him that Finish Line did not sell gift cards with Braille and did not offer Calcano any alternative auxiliary aids for the purchase of the gift cards. Id. 17. As a result, Calcano alleges that he could not purchase accessible gift cards from Finish Line. Id. 18. In the Amended Complaint, Calcano alleges that he cannot access the information on the available gift cards like a sighted person could. Id. 5. Specifically, Calcano cannot complete a transaction with a gift card online or by phone because he cannot access the card number or the terms of the card without an auxiliary aid. Id.

6-7. Calcano alleges that if the gift cards were made available in Braille he could distinguish the gift cards, understand the terms of the card, know the unique card number, and learn the remaining balance. Id. 46. Calcano further alleges that Finish line does not have plans to sell gift cards with Braille and that implementation of auxiliary aids on the gift card would be neither difficult nor expensive. Id.