Sakhrani v. City of San Gabriel

Our client was one of the foremost dialysis doctors in the country–as indisputably shown by Medicare data on health outcomes for patients. His success led to oversubscription at this existing dialysis center, one of the few independent dialysis centers that had avoided being bought by the large players like DaVita and Fresenius.

To serve the larger patient demand for his services, he wanted to open a new facility in a commercially zoned area. Zoning requirements mandated an excessive and absurd amount of parking, which was unnecessary because dialysis patients are eligible for free shuttle transportation through Medicare for their treatments.

The City of San Gabriel’s professional planning staff and committee approved the permits for the new dialysis center with reduced parking, but NIMBY neighbors appealed the permit approval to the City Council, which reversed the permit grants.

While most attorneys viewed this as a land use and zoning and permitting problem, our firm quickly determined that the dialysis center was protected by federal law–the Americans with Disabilities Act–which required the City to make reasonable accommodations to permit the operation of a facility that served people with severe disabilities, i.e. kidney failure and end stage renal disease requiring dialysis.

This creative approach avoided the normally deferential review of conditional use permits grants that would have occurred in state court and instead effectively reversed the burden by forcing the City of San Gabriel to determine how they could approve and ensure the dialysis center could open to serve community members with kidney failure.

Today, as a result of the Firm’s strategy, the dialysis center serves many community members with end stage renal disease. The Firm’s creative strategy was recognized by Law360 when the case was named one of the top three real estate cases to watch in the country for the year 2017.