Case: 20-51018 Document: 00515846513 Page: 1 Date Filed: 05/03/2021
REVISED
United States Court of Appeals
for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
FILED
April 30, 2021
No. 20-51018 Lyle W. Cayce
Summary Calendar Clerk
Deborah Laufer,
Plaintiff—Appellant,
versus
Galtesvar OM, L.L.C.,
Defendant—Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Texas
USDC No. 1:20-CV-588
Before Wiener, Southwick, and Duncan, Circuit Judges.
Per Curiam:*
Deborah Laufer is a person with a disability within the meaning of
Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). See 42 U.S.C.
§ 12182 et seq. She sued Galtesvar, owner and operator of the Quality Inn &
*
Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 47.5, the court has determined that this
opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited
circumstances set forth in 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.4.
Case: 20-51018 Document: 00515846513 Page: 2 Date Filed: 05/03/2021
No. 20-51018
Suites in Carrizo Springs, Texas, alleging violations of federal regulations
because third-party websites did not provide an option to book accessible
rooms or information regarding whether such rooms were available at the
Quality Inn & Suites. See 28 C.F.R. § 36.302(e)(1). She has filed hundreds
of similar lawsuits across the country, considering herself an ADA “tester.”
The district court dismissed Laufer’s claims for lack of standing because her
injuries were insufficiently “concrete” to confer standing. We AFFIRM.
We review the district court’s dismissal for lack of subject-matter
jurisdiction de novo. Campos v. United States, 888 F.3d 724, 729 (5th Cir.
2018). Laufer bears the burden of proof for a Rule 12(b)(1) motion to dismiss.
See Ramming v. United States, 281 F.3d 158, 161 (5th Cir. 2001). Standing
requires an injury in fact that is “an invasion of a legally protected interest
which is (a) concrete and particularized and (b) actual or imminent, not
conjectural or hypothetical.” Lujan v. Defs. of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560
(1992) (quotation marks and citations omitted).
This court recently issued a decision that addressed the identical issue
presented here by the same plaintiff. See Laufer v. Mann Hosp., L.L.C., No.
20-50858, slip op. (5th Cir. Apr. 28, 2021). The result therefore must be the
same. Laufer’s injury is insufficiently concrete to confer standing, as she
never alleged in either case that she tried or intended to book a room at the
relevant defendant’s hotel. See id. at 4. Just as in that case, she made only a
general assertion of her “plans to travel to Texas as soon as the Covid crisis
is over and it is safe to travel.” See id. at 4.
AFFIRMED.
2