The California Court of Appeals has held that websites operated by online only businesses are not “places of public accommodation” subject to Title III of the ADA, agreeing with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and...more
8/9/2022
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appellate Courts ,
Disability ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Disparate Impact ,
E-Commerce ,
Internet Retailers ,
Public Accommodation ,
Retailers ,
Title III ,
Unruh Civil Rights Act ,
Website Accessibility
Businesses continue to feel the pain from the deluge of website accessibility complaints filed by vision-impaired individuals and organizations representing the vision-impaired. Much of the problem is due to the lack clear...more
A California federal district court has held that the website of Domino’s Pizza violates the ADA, following a long saga that included the Ninth Circuit’s reversal of the district court’s prior dismissal of the case. ...more
7/1/2021
/ Administrative Monetary Penalties ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Due Process ,
Mobile Apps ,
Motion for Summary Judgment ,
Primary Jurisdiction Doctrine ,
Public Accommodation ,
Unruh Civil Rights Act ,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
Businesses with an online presence should take note that the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has held - in a split decision - that websites are not places of public accommodation under Title III of the...more
A New York federal court has granted motions to dismiss in four separate cases alleging that the failure to offer gift cards in Braille violates the ADA. The rulings by U.S. District Court Judge Gregory H. Woods (Southern...more
On October 11, 2019, the Office of the California Attorney General proposed regulations to implement the CCPA. Far from clarifying or interpreting the Act, the Proposed Regulations largely added to the compliance...more
In addition to concerns surrounding the accessibility of a business’ website, retailers now have a new concern – the accessibility of their gift cards. Plaintiffs have recently filed a number of lawsuits alleging that the...more
Businesses should expect that lawsuits and demand letters alleging that their websites violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) will continue to increase in the wake of the United States Supreme Court’s October 7,...more
10/9/2019
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Dismissals ,
Dominos ,
Due Process ,
Mobile Apps ,
Permanent Injunctions ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Primary Jurisdiction Doctrine ,
Public Accommodation ,
Reversal ,
Title III ,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ,
Website Accessibility ,
Websites
In the first decision by a California appellate court addressing the application of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) to websites, the court in Thurston v. Midvale Corp. (Sept. 3, 2019) 2019 WL 4166620,...more
9/10/2019
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Brick-and-Mortar Stores ,
E-Commerce ,
Popular ,
Public Accommodation ,
Split of Authority ,
Summary Judgment ,
Title III ,
Unruh Civil Rights Act ,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ,
Website Accessibility ,
Websites
In Brintley v. Aeroquip Credit Union et al., Case Nos. 18-2326/2328 (August 8, 2019), the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order dismissing an Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) claim alleging that the defendant...more
Members of Congress are once again asking the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) to take action addressing website accessibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) in light of the increasing number of lawsuits...more
Domino’s Pizza LLC has submitted a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review and reverse a decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that allowed a website accessibility case to proceed against Domino’s. The...more
6/18/2019
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dominos ,
Due Process ,
Jurisdiction ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Public Accommodation ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Reversal ,
Title III ,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
As businesses continue to face lawsuits and demand letters alleging that their websites are inaccessible to blind and deaf patrons in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), courts across the country...more
6/10/2019
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Doing Business ,
Kroger ,
Mootness ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Personal Jurisdiction ,
Public Accommodation ,
Remediation ,
State Law Claims ,
Subject Matter Jurisdiction ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
As businesses continue to face lawsuits and demand letters alleging that their websites are inaccessible to blind and deaf patrons in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), courts across the country...more
1/17/2019
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dominos ,
Due Process ,
Primary Jurisdiction Doctrine ,
Public Accommodation ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Title III ,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
A California court has dismissed a website accessibility case shortly after commencing trial, issuing a sua sponte nonsuit on grounds that the defendant credit union’s website is not subject to the ADA.
Martinez v. San Diego...more
12/31/2018
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Credit Unions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Dismissals ,
eBay ,
eBay Test ,
Public Accommodation ,
Sua Sponte ,
Title III ,
Website Accessibility
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a prior settlement agreement, pursuant to which a defendant has agreed to improve website accessibility, does not necessarily render moot a new website accessibility...more
An update has been published to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, the standards that have been applied by many courts in the absence of website accessibility regulations by the Department of Justice.
The...more
Competitive markets and squeezed margins are forcing retailers to be more innovative in their advertising efforts. More frequently, we are seeing advertisements for "free trial" periods for goods and services, often leading...more
1/24/2018
/ Advertising ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Canada ,
Caudalie ,
Coty ,
European Commission ,
Retailers ,
Sales & Distribution Agreements ,
Sexual Stereotyping ,
Subscription Services ,
Transgender ,
UK ,
Website Accessibility
2017 was a busy year for retailers and businesses with an online presence, as they faced a wave of demand letters and lawsuits alleging that their websites are inaccessible to the visually impaired and/or hearing impaired in...more
1/8/2018
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Blue Apron ,
Corporate Counsel ,
CVS ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dominos ,
Hobby Lobby ,
Internet Retailers ,
NPRM ,
Retailers ,
Title III ,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Winn-Dixie Stores
Numerous community banks that had received demand letters from the advocacy group Access Now alleging that their websites and mobile apps are inaccessible in violation of Title III of the Americans With Disabilities Act (the...more
1/2/2018
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Community Banks ,
Demand Letter ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Mobile Apps ,
Settlement ,
Title III ,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ,
Website Accessibility ,
Websites
Courts across the country continue to weigh in on the issue of website accessibility. Earlier this month, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire denied a Motion to Dismiss filed by online food delivery...more
Courts across the country continue to weigh in on the issue of website accessibility. Last week, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire denied a motion to dismiss filed by online food delivery servicer Blue...more
11/21/2017
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Public Accommodation ,
Split of Authority ,
Title III ,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
On 18 July 2017, the UK's Advertising Standards Authority ("ASA") published a new report which calls for an end to gender stereotyping in advertising. The report comes at the end of an investigation into this issue, during...more
8/1/2017
/ Advertising ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Counterfeiting ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
EU ,
EU Single Market ,
Logos ,
Retailers ,
Title III ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademarks ,
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) ,
UK ,
Wage and Hour ,
Website Accessibility ,
Work Schedules
Retailers and other businesses that have been waiting for the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) to promulgate regulations concerning website accessibility under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (the “ADA”) will...more
Another website accessibility decision against a retailer, this time involving Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. in the Central District of California, highlights the uncertainty of the law and of litigating such cases while courts...more