ADA Website Accessibility Lawsuit: An Online Restaurant Business
Plaintiff's Firm: WILSHIRE LAW FIRM
Case Summary
Plaintiff Thuy Thanh Alonzo, represented by Wilshire Law Firm, has filed a class action lawsuit against an online restaurant business in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on August 6, 2021. The lawsuit asserts that the defendant's e-commerce website is not fully and equally accessible to and independently usable by blind and visually-impaired individuals, thus violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title III and California's Unruh Civil Rights Act. Ms. Alonzo seeks redress for herself and other similarly situated individuals, referred to as "Class Members."
The complaint details a variety of alleged Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) violations, including a lack of alternative text for non-text elements and images, empty links without descriptive text, and redundant links. Further issues include forms not offering the same functionality as for sighted persons, content structure not being conveyed non-visually, and text not being resizable up to 200 percent without functionality loss. The lawsuit also cites problems with inaccessible Portable Document Formats (PDFs), indiscernible keyboard focus indicators, missing page titles, and instances where the purpose of links cannot be determined from text alone.
This legal action highlights the ongoing risks for online businesses, especially those with an e-commerce presence integrated with physical locations, if their digital platforms fail to meet accessibility standards. The lawsuit underscores the importance of adhering to WCAG 2.1 to ensure full and equal access for visually-impaired consumers, thereby avoiding similar legal challenges and potential significant statutory damages under state civil rights acts.
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Case Q&A
What specific WCAG violations is this online restaurant business accused of?
The complaint alleges numerous violations, including lack of alternative text for non-text elements and images, empty links without descriptive text, redundant links, and inaccessible forms. Other issues cited are content structure not conveyed non-visually, text resizing limitations, missing page titles, unclear link purposes, indiscernible keyboard focus indicators, unexpected context changes, missing input labels, markup language errors, inaccessible PDFs, and unprogrammatically determined UI element names/roles.
Who filed this lawsuit, and which law firm?
The lawsuit was filed by Thuy Thanh Alonzo, and the plaintiff is represented by Wilshire Law Firm.
What legal risk does this create?
This lawsuit indicates a significant legal risk for online businesses, particularly those with integrated physical and digital services, that do not ensure their websites are fully accessible to disabled individuals. Non-compliance with ADA Title III and state civil rights acts, as highlighted by WCAG 2.1 standards, can lead to class action litigation, demands for injunctive relief to fix websites, and statutory damages.