Aaron Abadi v. Target Corporation

NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
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No. 23-2892
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AARON ABADI,
Appellant
v.
TARGET CORPORATION,
AND NUMEROUS UNNAMED EMPLOYEES OF TARGET CORPORATION
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On Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
(D.C. Civil Action No. 2:22-cv-02854)
District Judge: Honorable Chad F. Kenney
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Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)
March 13, 2024
Before: JORDAN, PHIPPS, and NYGAARD, Circuit Judges
(Opinion filed: April 22, 2024)
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OPINION*
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* This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not
constitute binding precedent.

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PER CURIAM
Appellant Aaron Abadi, proceeding pro se, appeals from the District Court’s grant
of judgment on the pleadings for defendants. For the following reasons, we will affirm.
Abadi filed a complaint against Target Corporation and unnamed Target
employees in 2022. Dkt. No. 2. He alleged that, when he entered a Target store in
Philadelphia in 2021, employees asked him to put on a face mask. Id. at 8. He refused,
explaining that he was unable to wear a mask due to a sensory processing disorder. Id.
The employees told him to put on a mask or leave the store, and Abadi left. Id. at 8-9.
He contended that, in refusing to allow him to shop without a mask, defendants violated
the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), the Rehabilitation Act, the Pennsylvania
Human Relations Act (“PHRA”), and 42 U.S.C. §§ 1985 and 1986. Id. at 10-20. He
sought compensatory, declaratory, and injunctive relief. Id. at 20-21.
The District Court sua sponte dismissed Abadi’s §§ 1985 and 1986 claims and
granted defendants’ motion to dismiss as to the remaining claims. Dkt. Nos. 7 & 30. On
appeal, we affirmed the District Court’s judgment as to all but Abadi’s PHRA claim,
which we vacated and remanded to the District Court. Abadi v. Target Corp., C.A. No.
23-1050, 2023 WL 4045373 (3d Cir. June 16, 2023). Defendants filed a motion for
judgment on the pleadings on the PHRA claim, asserting, inter alia, that they were
allowed to deny Abadi access to the store because he posed a direct threat to the health

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and safety of others. Dkt. No. 38. The District Court granted the motion on that ground,
Dkt. Nos. 41-42, and Abadi filed a timely notice of appeal, Dkt. No. 43.
We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review de novo a district
court’s order granting a motion for judgment on the pleadings and apply the same
standards as those for a motion made pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6). Bibbs v. Trans Union
LLC, 43 F.4th 331, 339 (3d Cir. 2022). Judgment on the pleadings may be appropriate
where an affirmative defense is apparent on the face of the complaint and no question of
fact exists. See Blonder-Tongue Labs, Inc. v. Univ. of Ill. Found., 402 U.S. 313, 348
(1971). For the purposes of deciding the motion, “a court may only consider the
complaint, exhibits attached to the complaint, matters of public record, as well as
undisputedly authentic documents if the complainant’s claims are based upon these
documents.” Wolfington v. Reconstructive Orthopaedic Assocs. II PC, 935 F.3d 187,
195 (3d Cir. 2019) (internal quotations omitted).
On appeal, Abadi argues that the District Court erred by concluding that
defendants properly assessed whether Abadi constituted a direct threat before denying
him access to the store. C.A. Dkt. No. 10 at 18-21. We disagree. The PHRA is
interpreted in accord with the ADA, Buskirk v. Apollo Metals, 307 F.3d 160, 166 n.1 (3d
Cir. 2002), and the ADA’s direct threat exception “allows discrimination if a disability
poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others,” Doe v. Cnty. Of Ctr., PA, 242 F.3d
437, 447 (3d Cir. 2001) (internal quotations and citations omitted); see also 16 Pa. Code

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§ 44.21. Entities deciding whether to deny access to a disabled person must determine
whether the risk to the health or safety of others is significant; to do so, they must assess
the nature, duration, and severity of the risk, and the probabilities the disease will be
transmitted and will cause varying degrees of harm. Doe, 242 F.3d at 447-48 (citing Sch.
Bd. of Nassau Cnty. v. Arline, 480 U.S. 273, 288 (1987)). The denial of access must be
reasonable in light of the available objective medical evidence. Bragdon v. Abbott, 524
U.S. 624, 649-50 (1998) (explaining that the views of public health authorities, including
the Centers for Disease Control (“CDC”), “are of special weight and authority” in this
inquiry).
When Abadi entered the Target without a mask on in January 2021, there was no
risk that Abadi’s sensory processing disorder would be transmitted and cause harm, but
the consequence of that disorder—that he could not wear a mask—implicated the
significant risk of respiratory transmission of COVID-19 and the related CDC’s masking
guidelines.1 At the time, the CDC indicated that COVID-19 was a highly transmissible
virus that had contributed to more than 200,000 deaths in the United States, and half of
1 We take judicial notice of the CDC’s December 2020 information about COVID-19 and
its related recommended public health strategies as information publicly available on a
government website. See Vanderklok v. United States, 868 F.3d 189, 205 n.16 (3d Cir.
2017); see also Gent v. CUNA Mut. Ins. Soc'y, 611 F.3d 79, 84 n.5 (1st Cir. 2010).
Abadi also referred to the CDC guidance about masking in his complaint, Dkt. No. 2 at 3,
so those guidelines are incorporated by reference. See Tellabs, Inc. v. Makor Issues &
Rights, Ltd., 551 U.S. 308, 322 (2007). We note that our ruling today speaks only to the
record as presented in this case and the circumstances that existed in January of 2021.

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the transmissions of the virus occurred from those without symptoms. See Dkt. No. 38-1
at 3-4. Vaccines for the virus were not readily available, and, according to the CDC at
that time, “universal face mask use” was a “critical evidence-based” strategy to reduce
respiratory transmission of COVID-19 indoors. Id. at 4 & 7. Accordingly, at that time,
in light of the objective medical evidence and view of the CDC at that time, defendants
reasonably denied Abadi’s access to the store because he was unable to wear a mask. See
Doe, 242 F.3d at 448.
We will affirm the judgment of the District Court.

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