Like many other industries, I have recently seen an increase in another type of lawsuit against professional apartment ownership/management: complaints asserting that a company website is not accessible to those with a visual disability. The claims are asserted under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and/or similar state law. While a traditional ADA claim involves physical barriers that confronted disabled individuals (things such as high curbs, seating that is not accessible, narrow doors, or fixtures too high for use by an individual in a wheelchair), lawsuits are now being filed claiming that websites (and mobile apps) for apartment communities violate the ADA as they are similarly not accessible. The claim is that someone with a vision impairment cannot review the pictures or other graphics from their computer and, as such, the website violates the ADA.
To date, courts are generally split regarding if a website qualifies as a place of “public accommodation” under the ADA. There are various tests and theories concerning how web sites should be evaluated and courts will continue to issue rulings as more of these cases reach some type of judicial resolution.
There is another possible defense in that as the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has failed to issue guidance concerning the appropriate alt text standards required of websites (indeed, DOJ has now specifically reversed course and disclaimed its prior intent to issue guidelines), how can a company be charged with violating a statute when the federal government cannot even decide what the standards are?
There will absolutely be more to come here, but professional apartment management should be on alert as to your website and/or mobile app. You might want to speak with a lawyer like me to run an analysis of your website and to review the possible risks of this type of lawsuit being filed against your company. Think it won’t happen to you? At last count, more than 1,000 of these ADA complaints have been filed nationwide in 2018, a number that is already more than the 800 cases that were filed throughout 2017.
Just A Thought.
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