The U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) recent release of an advance copy of its final rule on website accessibility for state and local governments under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provides a...more
4/24/2024
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Compliance ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Educational Institutions ,
Federal Funding ,
Final Rules ,
Health Care Providers ,
Public Accommodation ,
Rehabilitation Act ,
Title III ,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ,
Website Accessibility ,
Websites
On February 9, 2024, a federal judge in the Western District of Pennsylvania departed from earlier rulings in the district to hold that an online retailer’s website and its other digital properties did not constitute a “place...more
On September 13, 2023, the Court of Appeal of the State of California, Fourth Appellate District, covering Orange County and San Diego County and the southernmost areas of California, held that the Americans with Disabilities...more
10/10/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appellate Courts ,
Brick-and-Mortar Stores ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disparate Impact ,
E-Commerce ,
Internet Retailers ,
Public Accommodation ,
Substantial Nexus ,
Title II ,
Unruh Civil Rights Act ,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
In August 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would make the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) the standard for compliance for state and local governments...more
10/10/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Compliance ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
NPRM ,
Private Sector ,
Public Accommodation ,
Regulatory Standards ,
State and Local Government ,
Title II ,
Title III ,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
On October 4, 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments in a highly-anticipated case over whether a self-proclaimed “tester” plaintiff has standing to bring Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) claims...more
10/9/2023
/ Acheson Hotels LLC v Laufer ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disability Access Claims ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Mootness ,
Oral Argument ,
Public Accommodation ,
SCOTUS ,
Standing ,
Title III ,
Websites
When one of our clients recently received nearly-identical demand letters from remote, unrelated, and unrepresented parties claiming website accessibility and threatening legal action for damages under the Americans with...more
4/25/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Best Practices ,
Bots ,
Demand Letter ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Public Accommodation ,
Title III ,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
On August 1, 2022, the Court of Appeal of the State of California, in Martinez v. Cot’n Wash, Inc., resolved two outstanding issues in the website accessibility field in a way that limits the reach of the Unruh Civil...more
The Court of Appeal of the State of California, Fourth Appellate District, recently handed a potentially significant website accessibility win to the business community under the Unruh Civil Rights Act (Unruh Act) when it...more
For years, Scott Dinin was one of South Florida’s most prolific filers of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) cases. His run ended two years ago, when, after obtaining default judgments against two gas...more
9/2/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Disgorgement ,
Frivolous Lawsuits ,
Gas Stations ,
Injunctions ,
Misrepresentation ,
Public Accommodation ,
Sanctions ,
Standing ,
Title III
On April 7, 2021, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals rendered its long-awaited opinion in Gil v. Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., reversing a trial court’s decision against Winn-Dixie, holding that websites are not places of...more
In a big win for Starbucks and all other restauranteurs, retailers, and places of public accommodation, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held in three related cases (Johnson v. Starbuck Corp., Lindsay v....more
In handing down the first decisions of their kind, a federal district court in New York rejected two plaintiffs’ claims that retailers, restaurants, and other places of public accommodation were required to offer Braille gift...more
The Department of Justice has finally broken its long silence on website accessibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the news is both good and bad. The bad: the Department rejected calls from the...more
In its second pro-plaintiff decision in as many months, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that blind website accessibility plaintiffs need not show that difficulty using a place of public accommodation’s website...more
The House of Representatives passed a bill on February 15, 2018, that requires Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title III plaintiffs to provide businesses with notice and an opportunity to cure any barriers before filing...more
In a move that surprises no one, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced today, December 26, 2017, that it has officially withdrawn its two Advanced Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) related to website...more
A federal district court in Los Angeles last week endorsed the possibility that a business may be able to avoid making a website accessible if it provides the same goods and services through telephonic customer service. The...more
On August 8, 2017, the Nevada attorney general moved to intervene in an action brought by Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) serial litigant Kevin Zimmerman and to consolidate it with the more than 150 other pending...more
Are public accommodations required to admit personal care providers for free? That’s the question that the lawyers in our Disability Access Practice Group have been hearing with increasing frequency since the U.S. District...more
In an article published recently in The Wall Street Journal (“Disability Lawsuits Against Small Businesses Soar,” October 15, 2014), staff writer Angus Loten reported that accessibility lawsuits brought under the Americans...more
The first eight reported lawsuits have been filed against eight different hotels over their alleged failure to install pool lifts for the disabled. It didn’t take long. The lawsuits rely on the Department of Justice’s (DOJ)...more