Front-Row Accessible Seating at Red Rocks

Lucas v. City and County of Denver, 16-cv-02931-WYD-MJW

Issues

For years, individuals who use wheelchairs have complained about not being able to get front row seats at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, when the front row and back row are the only two options for accessible seating. On December 1, 2016, the Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center (“CREEC”), Disability Law Colorado (“DLC”) and CCDC joined forces and filed a lawsuit against the City and County of Denver (“City”) seeking changes to its policies and practices regarding making front row accessible seating tickets at Red Rocks available to and accessible for those who need them instead of scalpers and others who bought the tickets and often resold them at exorbitant prices to individuals who did not need accessible seating.

Status

CCDC, CREEC, and DLC wrote a letter to the City Attorneys’ Office on August 26, 2016, requesting a process be established for ensuring front-row accessible seating is available to people who need it. Many individuals who use mobility devices had raised complaints that these accessible were never available to them. We received a letter in response on September 15, 2016.

On December 1, 2016, the coalition of disability rights organizations filed suit against the City alleging violations of the ADA in its seating and ticketing practices at Red Rocks. Front row accessible seating was being purchased by entities that were not individuals who needed accessible seating, and these entities were reselling the tickets to the general public, eliminating one option of accessible seating from the only two options available.

The parties reached an agreement to resolve their claims on a class action basis. On June 7, 2018, the Court granted final approval of the class action settlement.  Relevant documents are posted below, including the transcript from that hearing, during which Judge Daniel took a moment to express some views about the ADA. It is worth reading.

The Consent Decree required monitoring of the 2018 and 2019 concert seasons.

Post-2019: The City and County of Denver committed to continuing the same accessible seating arrangements beyond the 2019 concert season, and the counsel for the plaintiffs have been in discussions with them regarding some possible exceptions.