ADA Website Accessibility Lawsuit: Fast-Food Restaurant Chain

Plaintiff Brett DeSalvo, represented by Wilshire Law Firm, PLC, filed a class action lawsuit on March 20, 2020, in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, alleging that a fast-food restaurant chain's website is not fully and equally accessible to blind and visually-impaired consumers, violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title III and California's Unruh Civil Rights Act.

The complaint outlines numerous alleged WCAG violations, including a lack of alternative text for non-text elements and linked images, missing title frames for identification and navigation, the absence of equivalent text when using scripts, and inaccessible forms. Further issues cited include content where meaning and structure are not conveyed visually, text that cannot be resized without loss of functionality, and web pages lacking descriptive titles or clearly determinable link purposes. The site allegedly also features a keyboard operable user interface without a discernible focus indicator, programmatically undeterminable default human language, and markup language issues, alongside inaccessible Portable Document Format (PDFs) and empty or redundant links.

This lawsuit highlights the significant legal risks faced by businesses whose digital platforms are not accessible to individuals with disabilities. Non-compliance with ADA Title III and similar state laws like California's Unruh Civil Rights Act can result in demands for injunctive relief to remediate inaccessible features, statutory damages (up to $4,000 per offense per person in California), and recovery of attorneys' fees and costs, affecting any online entity deemed a place of public accommodation.