By Minh N. Vu

Seyfarth synopsis:  California District Judges are not convinced that hotel reservations websites have to provide detailed accessibility information.

As we reported last month, a plaintiff’s firm in California that calls itself the Center for Disability Access has filed on behalf of fewer than 10 plaintiffs nearly 500 lawsuits against hotels in California claiming that the hotel accessibility information provided on the hotels’ reservations websites was not sufficiently detailed, in violation of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act and California’s Unruh Act.  We recently reported on decisions dismissing three of these cases.  Since then, the courts have issued four additional decisions dismissing these lawsuits.  The judges in these cases all agree that the ADA regulation in question does not require the hotels disclose the detailed accessibility information demanded by the plaintiffs.  The plaintiffs in three of the dismissed cases have filed Notices of Appeal to the Ninth Circuit.

Stay tuned for this developing situation.