Khen v. US Coachways Inc.

OPINION AND ORDER Plaintiffs Elie Khen, Doron Orbach, Ben’s International Luxury Transportation, LLC (“Ben’s”), Hagar Fine, Gal Halevi, William Organek, and Dana Hollar Schwartz (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) bring this suit for violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VI”), 42 U.S.C. §2000d, and the Federal Transit Law, 49 U.S.C. §5332(b); related state law claims; and claims under 42 U.S.C. §1983 against US Coachways, Inc. (“Coachways”), John Doe Nos. 1-99 (“John Doe Defendants”), and ABC Corporations 1-99 (“ABC Corporations”) (collectively, “Defendants”). See generally Dkt. 29 (“Amended Complaint” or “AC”). Plaintiffs also seek to certify a class. See generally id. Plaintiffs allege that Defendants denied them contracted-for transportation to Washington, D.C., because of their Jewish religion and Israeli national origin; that they were denied access to a public accommodation in the form of Coachways’ bus services on the basis of their religion and national origin; that Coachways breached its contract with the Israeli American Council (“IAC”) to provide bus services to Washington, D.C.; and that Coachways was negligent in hiring, monitoring, training, supervising, and retaining its employees. Coachways moves for judgment on the pleadings under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (“Rule”) 12(c) and seeks to dismiss the Amended Complaint. Dkt. 34. For the reasons stated below, the Court GRANTS Coachways’ motion in part and DENIES it in part. BACKGROUND¹ I. Factual Background Plaintiffs Elie Khen, Doron Orbach, Hagar Fine, Gal Halevi, William Organek, and Dana Hollar Schwartz (collectively, “Individual Plaintiffs”) are members of the Jewish faith. AC

11-12, 14-17. Khen, Orbach, and Fine are Israeli nationals. AC