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
The Supreme Court of the United States agreed to hear a case concerning a self-appointed “tester’s” standing to bring claims alleging a hotel violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by failing to provide...more
4/10/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Article III ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disability Access Claims ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
SCOTUS ,
Split of Authority ,
Standing ,
Website Accessibility ,
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
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
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
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
In a surprise announcement with major repercussions for businesses and their websites, on November 19, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced in its Fall 2015 Statement of Regulatory Priorities that it is delaying—by at...more