ADA Website Accessibility Lawsuit: Restaurant and Pharmacy Website

Plaintiff Mario Garcia, individually and on behalf of other similarly situated persons, filed a class action complaint against an online restaurant and pharmacy in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on June 23, 2021. The plaintiff, a visually-impaired and legally blind individual who relies on screen-reading software, alleges that the website of the online restaurant and pharmacy is not fully accessible, thereby denying equal access to its goods and services.

The complaint details several alleged WCAG violations, including: lack of alternative text for non-text elements and linked images; empty links and redundant links causing navigation confusion; missing title frames for identification; absence of equivalent text when using scripts; forms lacking the same information and functionality as for sighted persons; content information not conveyed solely by visual presentation; text resizing issues; unadjustable time limits; missing web page titles; unclear link purposes; indiscernible keyboard focus indicators; non-programmatically determined human language; unexpected context changes upon component focus or setting changes; missing labels or instructions for user input; markup language errors; inaccessible Portable Document Format (PDFs); and user interface elements lacking programmatically determined name, role, or settable items.

This action highlights the significant legal risks for online service providers, particularly those in the restaurant and pharmacy industries, that fail to ensure their digital platforms are accessible to individuals with disabilities. Businesses operating websites that do not comply with established accessibility guidelines, such as WCAG 2.1, may face similar class action lawsuits, demands for injunctive relief to remediate accessibility barriers, and potential statutory damages under federal and state disability laws.