ADA Website Accessibility Lawsuit: An Online Clothing Retailer
Plaintiff's Firm: LAW OFFICE OF AMANDA BENEDICT
Case Summary
Richard Cooks, represented by LAW OFFICE OF AMANDA BENEDICT, has filed an ADA Title III class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on January 7, 2020. The complaint targets an online clothing retailer, alleging its website is inaccessible to blind and visually impaired individuals.
The lawsuit specifically details numerous accessibility barriers, including missing alt text for non-text elements, lack of proper labels and title attributes for fields, broken links, non-determinable link purposes, absent or non-descriptive page titles and headings, invisible keyboard focus indicators, and issues with programmatically determining human language. Additionally, the site reportedly prevents text resizing without loss of content and lacks mechanisms to bypass repeated content blocks, affecting screen reader compatibility and overall usability, in violation of WCAG 2.1 AA standards.
This litigation highlights the significant legal risks faced by an online clothing retailer and other e-commerce businesses if their digital platforms fail to comply with established web accessibility standards, such as WCAG 2.1 AA. Non-compliance can lead to class action lawsuits, demands for injunctive relief to remediate access barriers, and potential statutory damages under both federal and state laws for similarly situated individuals.
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Case Q&A
What specific WCAG violations is this online clothing retailer accused of?
The lawsuit alleges violations including missing alt text, lack of proper labels and title attributes for fields, broken links, non-determinable link purposes, absent or non-descriptive page titles and headings, invisible keyboard focus indicators, issues with programmatically determining human language, inability to resize text without content loss, and no mechanism to bypass repeated content blocks.
Who filed this lawsuit, and which law firm?
Richard Cooks filed this lawsuit, represented by the LAW OFFICE OF AMANDA BENEDICT.
What legal risk does this create?
This case demonstrates the legal risk for e-commerce businesses that fail to provide accessible digital platforms, potentially leading to class action lawsuits, demands for injunctive relief to correct accessibility barriers, and financial penalties for discrimination against disabled users under the ADA and state civil rights acts.