On May 21, a California state court in Los Angeles held on summary judgment that the Whisper Lounge restaurant violated California’s Unruh Act by having a website that could not be used by a blind person with a screen reader,...more
6/4/2018
/ Accessibility Rules ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Damages ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Public Accommodation ,
Summary Judgment ,
Technology ,
Title III ,
Unruh Civil Rights Act ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
Seyfarth Synopsis: Plaintiffs who pursued numerous web accessibility actions under Title III of the ADA are now using website accessibility to test the limits of a different area of law – employment law – California’s Fair...more
4/13/2018
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
FEHA ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Popular ,
Public Accommodation ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Title III ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
Seyfarth Synopsis: The number of federal ADA Title III lawsuits continue to surge in 2017, fueled largely by website accessibility claims; while legislative reform efforts continue to mitigate the physical accessibility...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: California will soon have a new law requiring WCAG 2.0 AA compliance for state agencies’ websites by 2019.
On October 14, 2017 California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law AB 434, which will create a...more
12/4/2017
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
New Legislation ,
Posting Requirements ,
Public Accommodation ,
State and Local Government ,
Title III ,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
Seyfarth Synopsis: The number of federal lawsuits alleging inaccessible websites continues to increase, along with the number of law firms filing them. Businesses remain well-advised to seek advice from counsel experienced...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Two New York federal judges recently said that the ADA covers websites (even those not connected to a physical place) and one held that working on improving the accessibility of one’s website does not make...more
8/8/2017
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Grocery Stores ,
Hobby Lobby ,
Public Accommodation ,
Rewards Programs ,
Title III ,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ,
Website Accessibility ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites ,
Winn-Dixie Stores
Seyfarth Synopsis: In amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Justice Department agreed with the Fifth Circuit and defendant Coca-Cola that a vending machine is not a place of public accommodation and that public...more
7/27/2017
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Coca Cola ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disability ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Discrimination ,
Public Accommodation ,
Public Use ,
Title III ,
Vending Machines
The increase of ADA Title III lawsuits in federal court shows no signs of stopping. From January 1 through April 30, 2017, 2629 lawsuits were filed — 412 more than during the same period in 2016....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Retailer and Texas bankers go on the offense in response to ADA Title III lawsuits and demand letters.
Hundreds, possibly thousands, of banks, retailers, and other businesses have received demand...more
3/2/2017
/ Accessibility Rules ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Banks ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Declaratory Relief ,
Demand Letter ,
Mootness ,
Retailers ,
Settlement ,
Title III ,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
Seyfarth Synopsis: New website and mobile app accessibility settlement agreement requires WCAG 2.0 AA conformance, training, and feedback mechanism.
Being named one of the most innovative companies of 2016 doesn’t make...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The number of federal ADA Title III lawsuits continue to surge, fueled by new plaintiffs, new plaintiffs’ lawyers, and website accessibility claims.
Our 2016 lawsuit count is complete, and the results...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Fighting a web accessibility lawsuit could invite DOJ’s intervention, as did a Florida retailer’s recent Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings.
Fighting a website accessibility lawsuit is very tempting...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Here’s our take on Sunday’s 60 Minutes episode on “drive-by” abusive ADA Title III lawsuits and the legislative efforts to address them.
60 Minutes aired a segment about ADA Title III “drive-by”...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: DOJ announced today an extension to October 7, 2016 for the public to submit comments on the SANPRM for state and local government websites.
In May of this year the Department of Justice surprised us...more
In honor of the 26th anniversary of the ADA, we are sharing our mid-year count of ADA Title III lawsuits for 2016 and it’s newsworthy: The number of lawsuits filed in federal court is already at 3,435, up 63% from last...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: If you would rather not read the 30-page small print Federal Register notice, this summary will provide you with what you need to know about the Justice Department’s most recent official pronouncement on...more
5/23/2016
/ Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Mobile Apps ,
Public Accommodation ,
Social Media ,
Title II ,
Title III ,
Undue Burden ,
Website Accessibility
This morning, on Global Accessibility Awareness Day, DOJ participated by issuing its Spring 2016 unified agenda, including upcoming regulatory actions on web accessibility and movie captioning.
AA65: State and Local...more
Website accessibility is an evolving and complicated topic, about which we’ve written many times. Thanks to delayed regulations and the Department of Justice’s changing positions on the issue, businesses have been caught off...more
Our research department has crunched the numbers from the federal court docket and the verdict is that the ADA Title III plaintiff’s bar and their clients are still busy filing lawsuits. Here are the findings...more
In an astonishing move, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it will not issue any regulations for public accommodations websites until fiscal year 2018—eight years after it started the rulemaking process with an...more
Seyfarth’s ADA Title III Specialty Team has reported extensively on the legal uncertainty surrounding the accessibility of businesses’ websites to individuals with disabilities. Today it reports that businesses’ long wait...more
We’ve done the review and crunched the numbers: It appears that the surge of ADA Title III lawsuits we saw from 2013 to 2014 is holding strong, though possibly leveling off.
You may recall that there was a 60% increase...more