Judge Rules Against AIDS Patient in Suit Over Pedicure Refusal

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled Thursday that a West Hollywood nail salon does not have to provide a pedicure to an AIDS patient who claimed that the salon discriminated against him because of his disease.

In his 12-page decision, Judge David M. Rothman turned down Paul Jasperson’s request for a court order that would have compelled Jessica’s Nail Clinic to provide him with pedicure services. Rothman concluded “that there is an extremely small, but nonetheless real, risk of exposure to AIDS from the procedures of a pedicure.”

The judge also said that “an act of discriminatory conduct toward a person afflicted with AIDS is permissible if the conduct is based on a reasonable risk of harm from the afflicted person, and the act has a direct relationship to that risk.”

In January, Jasperson sued the nail salon, charging the owner, Jessica Vartoughian, with discrimination and requesting the judicial order and compensatory damages. Jasperson said he was refused services at the salon last July after he had made a reservation. He contended that his reservation was canceled after a manicurist overheard him telling a friend that he had just being diagnosed as having acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

The lawsuit came a month after the City of West Hollywood filed criminal anti-discrimination charges against the nail salon. The cases are reportedly the first major court tests of municipal laws designed to discourage businesses from denying commercial services to AIDS victims.

Jasperson and his attorney, Gloria Allred, said they will appeal Thursday’s decision. “I will not rest until all persons with AIDS are given equal rights and equal protection under the law,” said Jasperson, a 35-year-old hairdresser.

Allred strongly disagreed with the judge’s reasoning, insisting that pedicurists and manicurists at the salon could take “reasonable precautions” to protect themselves from infection while providing services to AIDS patients. “The pedicurists could have worn gloves.”

Paul Geragos, the attorney for the nail salon, said he was gratified by the ruling. “This is a serious health issue that should not be confused with a civil rights issue,” he said. Geragos said that Vartoughian declined to provide Jasperson with a pedicure out of concern for the health of pedicurists and their clients.

Geragos said the judge’s ruling pointed out a “lack of specificity” in the West Hollywood anti-discrimination law and in similar state laws and called on the West Hollywood City Council and the state Legislature to provide more detailed instructions to businesses on how to treat AIDS patients.

The attorney also said that if such laws are passed, the salon will be willing to provide services to Jasperson and other AIDS patients.