We’ve sheltered in place and finished our tally. The numbers are in for total website accessibility lawsuit filings in federal courts in 2019, they show a small decrease from 2018....more
4/29/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appellate Courts ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Court Administration ,
Court Schedules ,
Deadlines ,
Extensions ,
Judicial System ,
Telecommunications ,
Trial Attorneys ,
Website Accessibility ,
Websites
Seyfarth Synopsis: In a first-in-the-nation decision, Judge Gregory Woods of the Southern District of New York ruled that Title III does not require public accommodations to manufacture or sell Braille gift cards....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The ADA Title III federal lawsuit numbers in 2019 topped 11,000 for another all-time record.
Plaintiffs filed at least 11,053 ADA Title III lawsuits in federal court in 2019 — 890 (or 8.8%) more than in...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Purveyors of porn are being sued for offering online videos without closed captioning....more
1/22/2020
/ Adult Entertainment ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Closed Captioning ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Hearing-Impaired ,
Movies ,
Pornography ,
Public Accommodation ,
Title III ,
Website Accessibility ,
Websites
Seyfarth synopsis: ADA Title III lawsuits flooded federal courts in 2019 and will likely continue to do so in 2020 with new theories for the courts to consider. ...more
1/7/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dominos ,
Gift-Cards ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Mobile Apps ,
Permanent Impairments ,
Public Accommodation ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Retail Market ,
Retailers ,
Title III ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
Seyfarth Synopsis: Enterprising plaintiffs in New York are suing more than 100 businesses under a new theory – – that ADA Title III requires Braille gift cards....more
11/5/2019
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Article III ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Gift-Cards ,
Permanent Impairments ,
Public Accommodation ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Retail Market
Seyfarth Synopsis: Website accessibility lawsuit filings in federal court in 2019 are on track to exceed 2018. Will we see an increase in filings as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision not to review the Ninth Circuit’s...more
11/4/2019
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Denial of Certiorari ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dominos ,
Mobile Apps ,
Public Accommodation ,
Regulatory Standards ,
SCOTUS ,
Title III ,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Supreme Court Leaves the Ninth Circuit’s Robles v. Domino’s decision intact, dashing businesses’ hope for some relief from website accessibility lawsuits....more
10/9/2019
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Denial of Certiorari ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dominos ,
Mobile Apps ,
Public Accommodation ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Title III ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
Seyfarth synopsis: California Court of Appeal affirms ruling that inaccessible restaurant website violated the Unruh Act and orders that restaurant website comply with WCAG 2.0 Level AA....more
9/11/2019
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Article III ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dominos ,
Due Process ,
Popular ,
Public Accommodation ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Standing ,
Title III ,
Unruh Civil Rights Act ,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
Seyfarth Synopsis: Congress Members recently renewed their efforts to take legislative action and urge the DOJ take regulatory action regarding physical and website accessibility, respectively....more
9/4/2019
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Equal Access ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Public Access Laws ,
Public Accommodation ,
Regulatory Burden ,
Title III ,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ,
Website Accessibility ,
Websites
Seyfarth Synopsis: Serious sanctions imposed on a serial ADA Title III plaintiff and his attorney should concern the plaintiffs’ bar....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Supreme Court will decide whether to hear its first website accessibility case now that briefing on Domino’s Petition for Certiorari is complete....more
8/15/2019
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dominos ,
Due Process ,
Franchises ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Public Accommodation ,
Regulatory Standards ,
SCOTUS ,
Title III ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
The task of counting the number of ADA Title III lawsuits filed in federal courts grows with the ever-increasing numbers of lawsuits. For the period from January 1, 2019 through June 30, 2019, our research team counted 5,592...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Courts in the Fourth Circuit are taking a hard look at a plaintiffs’ standing in website accessibility cases.
In a small but potentially important victory for defendants facing website accessibility...more
7/5/2019
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Article III ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Public Accommodation ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Standing ,
Title III ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
Domino’s filed its petition for writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court today, June 13, 2019, asking the Court to review and overturn the Ninth Circuit’s decision which allowed a website accessibility lawsuit to...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: A Committee in the New York State Senate aims to develop a legal standard for the accessibility of business websites under New York law, in response to the exponential increase in website accessibility...more
5/20/2019
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Public Accommodation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Standards ,
State and Local Government ,
Title III ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
Seyfarth Synopsis: Four years and two motions to dismiss based on the pleadings later, the National Association of the Deaf’s (NAD) online video captioning lawsuit against Harvard is moving forward to fact discovery. ...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Domino’s Likely to File Petition for Certiorari from Ninth Circuit’s Ruling in Robles v. Domino’s....more
3/21/2019
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dominos ,
Due Process ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Public Accommodation ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Title III ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
Seyfarth Synopsis: DOJ provides guidance on sales/service counter rules in the 2010 Standards that provides some relief to businesses....more
As we had predicted, the number of website accessibility lawsuits (i.e. lawsuits alleging that plaintiffs with a disability could not use websites because they were not coded to work with assistive technologies like screen...more
The number of ADA Title III lawsuits filed in federal court in 2018 hit a record high of 10,163 – up 34% from 2017 when the number was a mere 7,663. ...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Ninth Circuit overturns district court’s dismissal of website accessibility lawsuit on due process and primary jurisdiction grounds, remands case to proceed with discovery....more
1/17/2019
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Dominos ,
Fast-Food Industry ,
Mobile Apps ,
Public Accommodation ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Title III ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Department of Transportation says that an airline’s provision of an accessible alternative website violates the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA), so are such websites an acceptable means of providing...more
12/31/2018
/ Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) ,
Airlines ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Aviation Industry ,
Consent Order ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Public Accommodation ,
Title III ,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Court of Appeals for the First Circuit says that an agreement to arbitrate presented visually to blind plaintiffs on a POS device and never read to thempo is not binding....more
12/10/2018
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Binding Arbitration ,
Customer-Loyalty Programs ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Illusory Contracts ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Point of Sale Terminals ,
Terms and Conditions ,
Unenforceable Contract Terms
Seyfarth Synopsis: DOJ’s response to members of Congress about the explosion in website accessibility lawsuits contains some helpful guidance for public accommodations fighting these claims....more
10/3/2018
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Due Process ,
Public Accommodation ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Title III ,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites