By Minh N. Vu
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Eleventh Circuit’s much-anticipated decision in Gil v. Winn Dixie sets a higher bar for plaintiffs in website accessibility lawsuits and creates a conflict among judicial circuits that could result in Supreme Court review.
After two and a half years of deliberation, the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh
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
By Minh N. Vu
Seyfarth synopsis: A federal judge dismisses the first two of hundreds of pending lawsuits filed against hotels for allegedly not providing enough accessibility information on their reservations websites.
Last fall, a prolific plaintiff’s firm in California began filing lawsuits against hundreds of hotels in California on behalf of seven plaintiffs. The
Seyfarth Synopsis: A recently-filed lawsuit contains a lengthy critical report by a digital accessibility consultant of accessibility issues created by an accessibility widget.
Amidst the thousands of lawsuits filed over the past few years alleging business’ websites and mobile apps are not accessible to blind individuals, businesses have scrambled to find ways to make their
By Minh Vu and Julia Sarnoff
Seyfarth Synopsis: Congressmen Budd and Correa try to address website and mobile app accessibility in a new bill called the “Online Accessibility Act.”
On October 2, 2020, Representatives Lou Correa (D-CA) and Ted Budd (R-NC) introduced a bill called the “Online Accessibility Act” (H.R. 8478) (the “OAA”) which would
By Minh N. Vu
Seyfarth Synopsis: California state courts are becoming an even friendlier jurisdiction for plaintiffs filing lawsuits about allegedly inaccessible websites.
The U.S. Court Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has longstanding precedent that only businesses with a brick and mortar location that customers can physically visit are “public accommodations” covered by Title III
Seyfarth Synopsis: A second California Court of Appeal rules that websites with a nexus to a physical place of business are covered by Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, while a California trial court insists that online-only websites are covered as well, contradicting the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
On
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
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
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