IS YOUR WEBSITE AT RISK?Website ADA Accessibility

You may have heard about recent ADA lawsuits targeting large companies such as Domino’s (Robles v. Domino’s Pizza), Five Guys (Lucia Markett v. Five Guys), Hobby Lobby (Sean Gorecki v. Hobby Lobby), Winn-Dixie (Gil vs. Winn-Dixie) where the grocery store chain had to pay $105K to settle the lawsuit, and most notably National Federation of the Blind v. Target Corporation where Target spent millions in legal fees over 12 years and eventually still had to pay 6 million in damages to the plaintiff.

These companies weren’t accused of failing to build a wheelchair ramp or install handrails in the restrooms — common allegations in ADA lawsuits in years past — but simply that their websites couldn’t be used by people with certain disabilities.

Each of those cases involved visually impaired people trying to access the company’s website, and the lawsuits were all filed in FEDERAL court under ADA Title III – the “public access” section of the Americans with Disabilities Act. We are not attorneys, so to better understand the scope of this risk to our clients I have had extensive discussions with lawyers, industry experts, consultants and companies that specialize in ensuring websites are fully ADA compliant.

In addition to the large companies that have had issues with this, recently a small shoe store in Clearwater, FL was involved in a website accessibility lawsuit. They are a “mom & pop" shop – as are many of our clients – so this one really hit home for us. A small business that did everything they could to survive the last few years and now hoping to expand their business again, only to get hit with a website accessibility lawsuit that could cost them $10-$20k to resolve.

A common theme with these cases is that the plaintiffs were mostly visually impaired persons that couldn’t use their assistive technology (screen reading software) with the company’s website. So, just like building a ramp to bypass stairs into a store, it is now required to make your website accessible to people with disabilities.

Most website accessibility lawsuit cases end with a settlement agreement between the two parties as in Haynes v. Hooters, Braulio Thorne v. Rolex Watch, Bishop v. Amazon.com, Inc., and Aldworth v TD Ameritrade which ended with TD Ameritrade agreeing to remediate their website and pay Aldworth punitive damages as well as court costs and attorney fees. ADA website lawsuit settlements may or may not include damages to the plaintiff, but in all cases the defendant must then ensure that their website provides equal access to persons with disabilities to avoid being the target of additional lawsuits.