ADA Website Accessibility Lawsuit: an online health and wellness retailer
Plaintiff's Firm: WILSHIRE LAW FIRM
Case Summary
Plaintiff Meghan Downing, individually and on behalf of a proposed class, represented by WILSHIRE LAW FIRM, filed a class action complaint in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on August 11, 2021. The lawsuit alleges that an online health and wellness retailer failed to provide a website accessible to visually-impaired individuals using screen-reading software, thereby violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and California's Unruh Civil Rights Act.
The complaint details numerous accessibility barriers on the e-commerce website, including the lack of alternative text for non-text elements and images, missing title frames for identification and navigation, absence of equivalent text for scripts, inaccessible forms for sighted persons, information not conveyed independently of visual presentation, and text that cannot be resized without functionality loss. Further alleged violations include unadjustable time limits, web pages lacking descriptive titles, undeterminable link purposes, non-discernible keyboard focus indicators, unrecognized default human language, unadvised context changes upon component focus or setting modification, missing labels/instructions for user input, markup language errors, inaccessible Portable Document Format (PDFs), and programmatically undeterminable user interface element names and roles.
This legal action highlights the ongoing necessity for online businesses to ensure their digital platforms, particularly e-commerce websites integrated with physical locations, are fully compliant with ADA Title III and WCAG 2.1 guidelines. Failure to address these common accessibility barriers exposes companies to class-action lawsuits and significant legal liabilities, including injunctive relief, statutory damages, and attorneys' fees.
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Case Q&A
What specific WCAG violations is this online health and wellness retailer accused of?
The retailer is accused of numerous WCAG violations, including missing alt-text for non-text elements and images, lack of title frames for navigation, absence of equivalent text for scripts, inaccessible forms, information not conveyed by visual presentation, non-resizable text, unadjustable time limits, missing page titles, undeterminable link purposes, non-discernible keyboard focus indicators, undetermined default human language, context changes on focus or setting changes without advisement, missing labels/instructions for user input, markup errors (incomplete tags, nesting issues, duplicate attributes, non-unique IDs), inaccessible PDFs, and programmatically undeterminable UI element names/roles.
Who filed this lawsuit, and which law firm?
Meghan Downing filed this class action lawsuit, represented by Wilshire Law Firm.
What legal risk does this create?
This creates a significant legal risk for online businesses, emphasizing the need for robust digital accessibility to avoid class-action lawsuits, potential injunctive relief, statutory damages under the Unruh Civil Rights Act, and attorneys' fees for failing to provide equal access to visually-impaired users.