ADA Website Accessibility Lawsuit: Hospitality Group

Brett DeSalvo has filed a class action lawsuit against a hospitality group operating restaurants in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on February 5, 2021. The plaintiff, who is visually-impaired and uses screen-reading software, alleges that the defendant's website is not fully and equally accessible to blind and visually-impaired people, violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and California's Unruh Civil Rights Act.

The complaint details numerous accessibility barriers on the defendant's website, including a lack of alternative text for non-text elements and images, empty and redundant links, and missing descriptive page titles. Further allegations cite inaccessible forms without labels or instructions, keyboard navigation issues such as undiscernible focus indicators and unexpected context changes, and inaccessible Portable Document Formats (PDFs). These violations prevent visually-impaired users from independently accessing information about reservations, menus, events, gift cards, and physical restaurant locations.

This lawsuit highlights the significant legal risks faced by hospitality businesses with online platforms that fail to comply with digital accessibility standards like WCAG 2.1. Non-compliance can lead to federal and state lawsuits, demands for permanent injunctions to remediate websites, and statutory damages for each offense, emphasizing the critical need for proactive website accessibility measures to avoid legal liability and ensure equal access for all users.