Cullen v. Netflix, Inc.

880 F. Supp. 2d 1017 (2012)

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Cullen v. Netflix, Inc.

United States District Court for the Northern District of California
880 F. Supp. 2d 1017 (2012)

  • Written by Noah Lewis, JD

Facts

Donald Cullen (plaintiff) was a deaf individual who relied on closed captioning or subtitles to make use of video content. Netflix, Inc. (defendant) was an on-demand streaming video service that also rented DVD and Blu-ray discs by mail. The mail options contained captioned content, but only a small portion of the streaming library was captioned. Accordingly, Cullen initially subscribed only to a DVD plan, which was more expensive than a streaming plan. From 2009–2011 Netflix made numerous representations that it would be increasing the percentage of captioned streaming content. Cullen and other deaf individuals purchased or maintained streaming subscriptions based on those representations. Challenging Netflix’s failure to provide full and equal access to its services, Cullen filed a class-action lawsuit alleging claims under California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act (Unruh Act), California’s Disabled Persons Act (DPA), and several consumer-protection statutes. Netflix filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that Netflix’s streaming library is not a place of public accommodation.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Davila, J.)

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