Title III Access

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By Kevin Fritz

Seyfarth Synopsis:The Northern District of New York sees far fewer ADA Title III lawsuits than its Eastern and Southern counterparts and apparently has no patience for serial plaintiffs with flimsy boilerplate filings. 

Judge Brenda Sannes of the Northern District of New York is apparently not going to let serial plaintiffs and their lawyers get judgments in their…
Continue Reading Northern District of New York Orders Serial Plaintiff to Justify Standing in Over 27 Separate Hotel Reservations Website Lawsuits

Today, Thursday, May 21, 2020, is the ninth annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD).  The purpose of GAAD is to provide opportunities for conversing, thinking, and learning about digital access and inclusion for people with different disabilities.  There is a ton of useful programming, which may be of interest to businesses’ in-house counsel, accessibility program managers and employees, IT and…
Continue Reading Global Accessibility Awareness Day Educational Events – TODAY! May 21, 2020

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By Minh Vu

Seyfarth Synopsis:  Businesses get another win in a lawsuit demanding gift cards with Braille.

Yesterday, Magistrate Judge Stewart Aaron in the Southern District of New York issued a Report and Recommendation recommending that District Judge Gardephe grant Foot Locker’s motion to dismiss a boilerplate complaint in which the blind plaintiff alleged that the retailer had violated the…
Continue Reading Another New York Judge Says the ADA Does Not Require Braille Gift Cards

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By Kristina M. Launey

Seyfarth Synopsis: Reopening businesses must quickly prepare for customers claiming the ADA exempts them from face mask requirements.

Business re-opening their doors to serve customers have many issues to consider, and now they must add to their list customers refusing to wear masks because of a claimed disability.

Many businesses are now requiring customers to…
Continue Reading Reopening Businesses Face Customer Pushback on Mask Requirements Under ADA

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By Minh N. Vu and John W. Egan

Seyfarth Synopsis: Reopening businesses need to carefully consider how social distancing and other Covid-19 mitigation measures will impact customers with disabilities and be prepared to make adjustments.

Covid-19 has had a profound impact on the ways in which we use (or, more accurately, avoid) public accommodations spaces in recent months.  As…
Continue Reading Reopening Businesses Face Thorny Customer-Facing ADA Issues

By Kristina M. Launey & Minh N. Vu

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. The total number of website accessibility lawsuits filed in federal court (i.e. lawsuits alleging that plaintiffs with a disability could not…
Continue Reading The Curve Has Flattened for Federal Website Accessibility Lawsuits

By Minh Vu and Michael Steinberg

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.

It has been a gloomy month for businesses that (ordinarily) open their doors to the public, but there was a small bright…
Continue Reading Businesses Get Early Victory in Lawsuit Demanding Braille Gift Cards

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By Minh Vu

Seyfarth Synopsis:  Miniature horses trained to perform work or tasks for a person with a disability must be allowed in public accommodations in most instances.

The news is not particularly uplifting these days, so we thought our readers would enjoy seeing clips of former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s miniature horse, Whisky (the clips also features Lulu, his…
Continue Reading Mini Horses Can Be “De Facto” Service Animals Too (Plus They Are Really Cute)

By Minh Vu, Kristina Launey and Susan Ryan

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 2018. This is the highest number since we started tracking these lawsuits…
Continue Reading 2019 Was Another Record-Breaking Year for Federal ADA Title III Lawsuits

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By: Minh N. Vu and Samuel Sverdlov

Seyfarth Synopsis:  Purveyors of porn are being sued for offering online videos without closed captioning.

We really can’t make this stuff up. Lawsuits by deaf plaintiffs against public accommodations for failing to provide closed captioning for videos on their websites are not uncommon. But last week, a deaf man sued three porn websites…
Continue Reading Deaf Man Demands Closed Captioning for Porn Videos in Federal Lawsuit