ADA Website Accessibility Lawsuit: an online apparel boutique
Plaintiff's Firm: WILSHIRE LAW FIRM
Case Summary
Portia Mason, represented by WILSHIRE LAW FIRM, filed a class action complaint on August 12, 2021, in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, alleging that an online apparel boutique's website fails to be fully and equally accessible to blind and visually impaired individuals under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title III and California's Unruh Civil Rights Act.
The complaint alleges numerous accessibility barriers on the online apparel boutique's website, preventing full and equal access for visually impaired users. These exact violations include: the lack of a text equivalent for every non-text element; missing title frames for identification and navigation; absence of equivalent text when using scripts; forms that do not provide the same information and functionality as for sighted persons; content where information about meaning and structure is not conveyed by more than visual presentation; text that cannot be resized up to 200 percent without loss of content or functionality; enforced time limits without user ability to extend, adjust, or disable; web pages lacking titles describing topic or purpose; links whose purpose cannot be determined from text or programmatically determined context; keyboard operable user interfaces lacking a discernible focus indicator; non-programmatically determined default human language for web pages; components initiating context changes upon receiving focus; changing user interface component settings automatically causing context changes without user advice; missing labels or instructions for user input; improperly structured markup language elements (lacking complete start/end tags, improper nesting, duplicate attributes, non-unique IDs); inaccessible Portable Document Format (PDFs); and UI elements whose name/role are not programmatically determined, cannot be programmatically set by the user, or lack notification of changes to user agents. Specific barriers encountered by Plaintiff also included empty links lacking text and redundant links going to the same URL address.
This lawsuit highlights the significant legal risk for other online apparel boutiques and e-commerce websites if their digital platforms do not comply with ADA Title III and WCAG 2.1 guidelines, potentially leading to similar class action litigation, injunctive relief, and statutory damages for failing to provide equal access to disabled users.
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Case Q&A
What specific WCAG violations is this online apparel boutique accused of?
The online apparel boutique is accused of: lacking alternative text for non-text elements and linked images; having empty links without descriptive text and redundant links; missing title frames and equivalent text for scripts; providing forms not accessible to screen reader users; conveying content meaning solely through visual presentation; preventing text resizing without content loss; enforcing time limits without user control; having web pages without descriptive titles and links with undeterminable purposes; issues with keyboard navigation focus; unprogrammatically determined language; components initiating context changes without advice; missing labels/instructions for user input; improperly structured markup language; and inaccessible PDFs.
Who filed this lawsuit, and which law firm?
This lawsuit was filed by Portia Mason, represented by WILSHIRE LAW FIRM.
What legal risk does this create?
This creates a legal risk for other online apparel boutiques and e-commerce platforms, as non-compliance with ADA Title III and WCAG 2.1 standards can lead to similar class action lawsuits, demands for injunctive relief, and statutory damages.