ADA Website Accessibility Lawsuit: An Online Jewelry Retailer

Portia Mason, represented by WILSHIRE LAW FIRM, filed a class action lawsuit against an online jewelry retailer in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on July 21, 2021. The complaint alleges that the retailer's website is inaccessible to blind and visually-impaired individuals, thereby denying them equal access to goods and services under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and California's Unruh Civil Rights Act.

The lawsuit details numerous accessibility barriers on the e-commerce website, including a lack of alternative text for non-text elements and linked images, empty and redundant links, and deficiencies in form accessibility. Further allegations include text not being resizable without content loss, time limits that cannot be extended or disabled, web pages lacking descriptive titles, and links whose purpose cannot be determined from their text or context. Additional issues cited involve a lack of discernible keyboard focus indicators, non-programmatically determined human language, context changes upon component focus, issues with markup languages, and inaccessible Portable Document Format (PDFs).

This case highlights the legal imperative for businesses operating online to ensure their digital platforms comply with established web accessibility guidelines, such as WCAG 2.1. E-commerce sites, in particular, face significant legal risk if they fail to provide full and equal access to their products, services, and information for all customers, including those with visual impairments who rely on screen-reading software.