Andres Gomez

As with all serial filers, what Plaintiffs allege in their boilerplate complaints do not always match their deposition testimony. Here's an example: on May 12, 2021 Andres Gomez alleged that he was visually impaired and that when he "attempted to navigate the website" of a restaurant, he "encountered numerous accessibility design faults that prevented him from navigating the site." In contrast, on July 9, 2021 he testified (under oath) that Defendant's restaurant "had a good variety of stuff on their menu, and it looked like a good place to eat and try their food and drinks." And that begs the question: how was he able to read the menu if he "encountered numerous accessibility design faults"?

ALLEGATIONS MADE IN A COMPLAINT FILED BY ANDRES GOMEZ ON MAY 12, 2021 

“1. Plaintiff is a visually-impaired individual and a member of a protected class of persons under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Plaintiff uses SRS to access the internet and consume website content using his computer, as well as Talkback or similar software to navigate websites and applications on mobile devices. Plaintiff is legally blind1 and cannot use a computer or mobile device without assistance of screen-reader software (“SRS”) 

…

16. While sitting bodily in California, Plaintiff visited the Website in April 2021 with the intent get information about their products.
17. When Plaintiff attempted to navigate the Website, Plaintiff encountered numerous accessibility design faults that prevented him from navigating the site successfully using SRS.” 

DEPOSITION TESTIMONY OF ANDRES GOMEZ APPEARING REMOTELY FROM MIAMI, JULY 9, 2021, 10:03 A.M. 

Is Andres Gomez an advocate for the disabled or is he a profiteer? You be the judge. 

For the Defendant:
SAHELIAN LAW OFFICES
ARA SAHELIAN, ESQ.

___________

“BY MR. SAHELIAN: 

 ·2· · · ·Q· · Okay.· So walk me through step by step as to 

 ·3· ·how you decided to eat at [Defendant's Restaurant]?
·4· · · ·A· · I believe I was driving around, we probably got 

 ·5· ·hungry.· I was searching online for restaurants in L.A. 

 ·6· ·near me, and we came across that location.
·7· · · ·Q· · Okay.· So you came across it because you saw it 

 ·8· ·out of your car window?
·9· · · ·A· · Nope.
10· · · ·Q· · How did you come across it?
11· · · ·A· · I Googled it online.
12· · · ·Q· · And what did you Google?
13· · · ·A· · Restaurants in Los Angeles, California.
14· · · ·Q· · Okay.· If I were to go online right now into 

15· ·Google and type restaurants California, right, how many 

16· ·restaurants do you think would show up?
17· · · ·A· · A lot.
18· · · ·Q· · Okay.· So how did you land on [Defendant's Restaurant]?
19· · · ·A· · They have sections where it says Latin and
20· ·Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, so I was just going
21· ·through all of them, and I said let's check this place 

22· ·out, and that's it.
23· · · ·Q· · Okay.· What exactly -- take me step by step. 

24· ·You first went on Google?
25· · · ·A· · Yes. 

 ·1· · · ·Q· · All right.· And what did you type on Google? 

 ·2· · · ·A· · Restaurants in Los Angeles, California.
·3· · · ·Q· · Okay.· So restaurants Los Angeles, California, 

 ·4· ·all right, that was the first thing you did.· And then,

 ·5· ·I assume, on Google you got a list of restaurants, 

 ·6· ·right?
·7· · · ·A· Correct.
·8· · · ·Q· Alright. And from there, what did you do?
·9· ·next?
10· · · ·A· They had different sections, and I came across
11· ·the Mediterranean or Middle Eastern section, and I 

12· ·clicked there. 

13· · · ·Q· · Okay.· You clicked Mediterranean section, and 

14· ·then what?
15· · · ·A· · Or Middle Eastern, I forgot which one it was, 

16· ·and then I came across the restaurant, the website. 

17· · · ·Q· · Was it the first? 

18· · · ·A· · I can't recall which one.
19· · · ·Q· · Do you have any recollection of how many Middle 

20· ·Eastern restaurants you sifted through to get to [Defendant's Restaurant]? 

21· · · ·A· · Maybe 10 or 15.
22· · · ·Q· · Do you remember what the number one selection 

23· ·was on the top -- strike that.· Let me start again.
24· · · · · · If you were given a list, can you tell me what 

25· ·the first restaurant name listed was? 

 ·1· · · ·A· · No, I can't tell you that. 

 ·2· · · ·Q· · Second or third?
·3· · · ·A· · No, I can't.
·4· · · ·Q· · Any others? 

 ·5· · · ·A· · No.
·6· · · ·Q· · Do you remember reading about any others? 

 ·7· · · ·A· · Yeah, I was going through other restaurants. 

 ·8· · · ·Q· · Okay.· Can you name them?
·9· · · ·A· · No, I can't.· I forgot the name.
10· · · ·Q· · Do you know where physically you were located 

11· ·at the time when you were doing the search?
12· · · ·A· · Around Los Angeles area.
13· · · ·Q· · Anywhere specific in Los Angeles?
14· · · ·A· · I can't recall where specifically.
15· · · ·Q· · No recollection where you were at the time? 

16· · · ·A· · We went to a lot of places in Los Angeles. I 

17· ·can't recall specifically where I was at that specific 

18· ·time.
19· · · ·Q· · Was there anything specific in terms of Middle
20· ·Eastern that you were interested in?
21· · · ·A· · Specific?· I just wanted to try different food
22· · · ·Q· · Was there anything specific in terms of a
23· ·Middle Eastern restaurant?· In other words, was there a
24· ·type of Middle Eastern that you were looking for?
25· · · ·A· · Was there a type, no, there wasn't a type

 ·1· · · ·Q· · So how would you know how to select a
·2· ·restaurant?
·3· · · ·A· · I just decided if I wanted to or not.
·4· · · ·Q· · My question is you had a long list of Middle 

 ·5· ·Eastern restaurants that popped up on Google, what was 

 ·6· ·the thinking process that you undertook to choose 

 ·7· ·[Defendant's Restaurant]?
·8· · · ·A· · I think it was maybe I want to try this
·9· ·restaurant out, maybe something new, try a new
10· ·restaurant and maybe I like it.
11· · · ·Q· · And what was it about [Defendant's Restaurant] that stood out for 

12· ·you?
13· · · ·A· · They had a good variety of stuff on their menu, 

14· ·and it looked like a good place to eat and try their 

15· ·food and drinks.
16· · · ·Q· · In other words, their menu looked more
17· ·interesting than the other menus?
18· · · ·A· · Yeah, you can say that.
19· · · ·Q· · Do you remember what you saw on their menu at 

20· ·the time?
21· · · ·A· · No, I don't remember what was on their menu. 

22· · · ·Q· · All right.· Let's take a five-minute break, and 

23· ·we'll be back.
24· · · · · · (A recess was taken.)”