A federal lawsuit against two Detroit-area Kohls Department Stores can go forward. The stores in Novi and Northville are accused of violating the Americans With Disabilities Act. Daimeon Mosley from Arizona says their bathrooms are not accessible.
The lower court said that Mosley did not have standing and his case could not go forward. The court said that’s because Mosely is not from Michigan and he had only been to the stores once.
Mosley argued that he does because he has family in Michigan and is likely to return to the Kohl’s department stores. The majority of the Appeals Court agreed with Mosley and now the case can go forward.
But Judge David McKeague disagreed in a sometimes sarcastic dissent. He wrote, “Who plans on going to a suburban Kohl’s on a trip to Detroit?”
McKeague said the majority’s opinion could open up the floodgates to people filing lawsuits despite it being very unlikely they would suffer an injury in the future.
“It’s discount standing,” McKeague wrote. “And while 20% off works for Kohl’s, it doesn’t work for the Constitution.”