ADA Website Accessibility Lawsuit: National Restaurant Chain
Plaintiff's Firm: WILSHIRE LAW FIRM
Case Summary
Plaintiff BRETT DELSALVO, represented by WILSHIRE LAW FIRM, filed a class action lawsuit against a national restaurant chain in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on March 19, 2020. The complaint alleges that the restaurant chain's website is not fully and equally accessible to blind and visually-impaired individuals, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title III and California's Unruh Civil Rights Act.
The lawsuit specifically details numerous accessibility barriers on the website, including a lack of alternative text for images and graphics, missing title frames for identification and navigation, equivalent text not provided for scripts, inaccessible forms, insufficient information about content meaning/structure, unresizable text, enforced time limits without user control, web pages lacking descriptive titles, unclear link purposes, keyboard operability issues with focus indicators, undetermined human language of web pages, undesired context changes on focus, missing labels/instructions for user input, markup language errors (e.g., incomplete tags, duplicate attributes, non-unique IDs), inaccessible Portable Document Format (PDFs), empty links, and redundant links. These issues prevent visually-impaired users from accessing essential information and services.
This litigation highlights the critical importance for online restaurant businesses and similar digital platforms to ensure their websites comply with digital accessibility standards, such as WCAG 2.0/2.1. Failure to address these common accessibility barriers can result in legal challenges under the Americans with Disabilities Act Title III and state civil rights laws, leading to demands for injunctive relief and statutory damages for affected users, thereby emphasizing the need for proactive digital inclusivity.
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Case Q&A
What specific WCAG violations is this national restaurant chain accused of?
The national restaurant chain is accused of lacking alternative text for non-text elements, missing title frames for navigation, not providing equivalent text for scripts, having inaccessible forms, failing to convey content meaning/structure through more than visual presentation, text not being resizable, enforced time limits, web pages without descriptive titles, unclear link purposes, keyboard operability issues, undetermined human language, undesired context changes on focus, missing labels/instructions for user input, markup language errors, inaccessible PDFs, empty links, and redundant links.
Who filed this lawsuit, and which law firm?
BRETT DELSALVO filed this lawsuit, represented by the law firm WILSHIRE LAW FIRM.
What legal risk does this create?
This case underscores the legal risk for online restaurant businesses and other digital platforms that fail to ensure their websites are accessible to disabled users. Non-compliance with ADA Title III and relevant accessibility standards can lead to class action lawsuits, demands for injunctive relief to remediate the website, and significant statutory damages, impacting business operations and reputation.