KIROLA v. THE CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO

1. Public Right-of-Way

180. Kirola's experts offered a variety of testimony regarding their evaluation of the City's curb ramps and sidewalks.

181. Mastin opined that 1,358 of the 1,432 curb ramps he inspected were inaccessible or non-compliant. RT 1215:12-1218:7; PTX 4148.

182. Steinfeld found barriers relating to curb ramp accessibility at thirteen of the fourteen site inspections conducted by his team that involved inspection of the public right-of-way. RT 704:9-12.

183. Margen inspected sidewalks and curb-ramps at ten street intersections and/or street segments, and asserted that there were "major barriers to accessibility" which rendered "the system as a whole not accessible." RT 330:21-331:1.

184. The Court finds that the opinions offered by Kirola's experts are unreliable and unpersuasive.

185. As an initial matter, the Court has serious concerns regarding their methodology. For instance, Kirola's experts failed to consider the height of the curbs or widths of the sidewalks they examined, even though both are critical measurements that may impact the design, construction, and accessibility conclusions of the curb ramps at issue. RT 2073:11-16. The record also shows that they failed to take steps to apply a consistent method of measuring slopes, sidewalks, and curb ramps, and improperly applied ADAAG to the public right-of-way. RT 398:12-399:5, 2055:24-2056:7, 2058:20-2061:6, 800:24-802:21, 2048:9-15.

186. The Court also has concerns regarding the qualifications of the persons conducting the evaluations. Steinfeld conducted his surveys mostly with the help of student interns who were not trained on California accessibility standards and whose work was shown by the City to be unreliable. RT 738:2-739:22, 800:14-801:25, 817:12-819:2, 2065:1-20. Margen is not an architect. According to fellow expert Mastin, only licensed architects are qualified to be experts in disability access standards. RT 1250:19-1251:22.

187. Wood, the City's accessibility expert, whom the Court finds to be credible, was particularly critical of the methodology utilized by Kirola's experts, opining that "there was no common way of measuring anything, such as slopes, sidewalks, [and] curb ramps" and that "they all seemed to have a different approach that was somewhat haphazard." RT 2056:3-7. Notably, the inconsistencies in such measurements led to internal disagreements between Kirola's experts. Steinfeld's colleague, Denise Levine, who supervised the site inspections conducted by Steinfeld's IDEA Center team, viewed her methodology as superior to the methodology employed by Kirola's other access experts and rejected their inspection protocols in favor of her own. RT 800:24-802:21.

188. Also problematic is Kirola's experts' failure to account for dimensional tolerances. Due to variations in workmanship and real-world construction practices, minor variations in the curb ramp or sidewalk construction may occur. 28 C.F.R. part 36, App. D, § 3.2 ("[a]ll dimensions are subject to conventional building industry tolerances for field conditions"). For instance, there may be slight imperfections in a curb ramp surface, or, at different points along the ramp, the slope or grade may not necessarily be uniform. RT 2061:2-2062:62:13. These variations may be the result of using a hand-trowel during the construction process and the natural settlement of concrete. RT 2061:22-2062:2. According to Wood, a dimensional tolerance is a permissible deviation from standards commonly accepted in the construction industry and does not impact accessibility under ADA guidelines. RT 2057:2-20, 2062:10-2063:2. Mastin, who conducted the majority of the curb ramp assessments, failed to account for such tolerances. In failing to do so, he inappropriately found trivial and insignificant deviations as access barriers, despite the fact that such deviations are permissible under industry standards. RT 955:5-10, 1272:1-12, 1282:4-18, 2055:24-2057:20.

189. In addition, Kirola's experts measured curb ramp slopes without considering the ramp's overall "rise in run" and flatness. RT 2056:10-2057:1. Instead, they recorded the maximum localized variation (i.e., the steepest individual point along the slope of the curb ramp), which skewed their results. RT 2056:10-2057:1, 2058:20-2061:6, 771:11-772:8. Steinfeld, for instance, acknowledged that the measurements he made regarding the overall slope of each curb ramp were based on the most extreme variation in the ramp's grade, misleadingly characterizing that measurement as applying to the ramp as a whole. RT 771:23 ("we use the steepest slope as what we record"). In other cases, the measurements taken were erroneous. Mastin admittedly cited dozens of curb ramps with a slope of less than 8.3 percent as non-compliant—when, in actuality, a slope of 8.3 percent or less comports with the ADAAG. RT 1275:5-21. Wood noted this discrepancy in his testimony. RT 2081:5-10. Wood also pointed out that Kirola's experts routinely cited items such as pot holes or utility grates as access barriers, notwithstanding the fact that there was an ADA compliant (i.e., 48-inch wide) path around the item. RT 2079:10-2081:10.

190. The Court further discounts the probative value of Kirola's experts' opinions and reports based on their misapplication of ADAAG, which applies specifically to post-January 26, 1992, construction. RT 2172:11-14. The ADAAG's current regulations focus on buildings and facilities, and do not explicitly encompass the public right-of-way (though a public right-of-way section has been reserved). Indeed, on July 26, 2011, the U.S. Access Board published Proposed Accessibility Guidelines for Pedestrian Facilities in the Public Right-of-Way, thus implying that the Board intended the current guidelines to be limited to newly constructed buildings and facilities (and the curb ramps, sidewalks, and loading zones associated with such buildings and facilities). Dkt. 636, Exh. A.

191. Even if the ADAAG were applicable to a public right-of-way, its provisions would apply only to newly constructed or altered elements of the public right-of-way. See 28 C.F.R. § 35.151. Despite this distinction, Kirola's experts indiscriminately applied the ADAAG to each curb ramp assessed without taking in account when the curb ramps were constructed or altered. The fact that Kirola's experts inappropriately applied the ADAAG to every curb ramp assessed without first ascertaining when the curb ramp was constructed or altered and whether the ADAAG therefore applied undermines both their credibility and the probative value of their testimony.

192. As for Margen's claim that the "the [City's] system [of curb ramps and sidewalks] as a whole is not accessible," the Court finds his opinion unpersuasive. RT 330:21-331:1. Margen was not certified as an expert on program access under Title II of the ADA nor is he an architect. RT 100:17-101:3. According to Mastin, only licensed architects are qualified to be experts in disability access standards. RT 1250:19-1251:22. Further, Margen's lack of knowledge was apparent from his inconsistent testimony regarding his understanding of Title II's program access requirements. RT 100:17:101:3, 105:20-25, 333:9-11. The Court therefore affords Margen's conclusions regarding program access little weight.

193. The Court also ascribes little weight to the testimony of Kirola's GIS expert, Seaman, who performed an analysis of the data contained within the CRIS database as of January 21, 2011, and prepared maps, which depict corners lacking curb ramps and curb ramps with low condition scores. RT 494:14-500:13. Seaman's geographic representations of the CRIS data are misleading in that he failed to show data for accessible curb ramps near the purportedly non-accessible curb ramps, despite the fact that such data was available to him. RT 530:3-5. In addition, testimony presented at trial demonstrates that the CRIS database was not up to date and lacked data for curb ramps installed through departments other than DPW. RT 2396:19-2397:7, 2401:14-16, 2403:12-2404:9.

194. In contrast, the Court finds the opinions of Hecker, the City's accessibility expert, to be more credible. The DOJ's "Tool Kit for Title II Entities" advises public entities to create long-range plans to provide curb ramps where needed and to employ a request-based system for installing curb ramps. RT 2811:7-2812:15. Hecker opined that the City's priorities for curb ramp installation, as set forth in the Curb Ramp and Sidewalk Transition Plan, are consistent with the priorities and recommendations established by the DOJ. RT 2785:17-2787:13, 2789:3-2790:18, 2811:7-2812:15.

195. On cross-examination, Kirola asked Hecker about a December 2009 expert report in which he had stated that the City had not yet installed every curb ramp necessary for program access when the network of City sidewalks was viewed in its entirety, but that the City was making progress toward program access. RT 2795:19-2796:8. However, Hecker acknowledged that at the time he issued the 2009 report, he had not actually determined the total number of curb ramps needed to achieve program access for the purposes of that report. RT 2797:15-2798:6. Hecker provided no updated program access conclusions regarding the City's public right-of-way. In any event, Hecker's observations in the 2009 report do not undermine his opinion that the City's policies and programs for curb ramp installation comport with the ADA. RT 2785:17-2787:13, 2789:3-2790:18, 2795:19-2796:8; PTX 0022 [003798].

196. To summarize, the Court finds that the opinions of Kirola's experts regarding whether the City provides meaningful access to its public-right-of-way are uncompelling, particularly in light of the persuasive testimony provided by Wood, and affords them little weight. The Court finds Hecker, the City's access expert, to be credible, and finds the City's priorities for curb ramp installation, as set forth in the Curb Ramp and Sidewalk Transition Plan, to be consistent with the priorities and recommendations established by the DOJ.