ADA Website Accessibility Lawsuit: Online Women's Apparel Retailer

Plaintiff Thuy Thanh Alonzo, represented by WILSHIRE LAW FIRM, filed a class action lawsuit against an online women's apparel retailer in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on September 13, 2021. The plaintiff, who is legally blind and visually-impaired, alleges that the defendant's website is not fully and equally accessible to and independently usable by individuals who rely on screen-reading software.

The lawsuit alleges numerous WCAG violations, including a lack of alternative text for graphics and images, empty links without descriptive text, redundant links leading to the same URL, and linked images missing alt-text. Further barriers cited include unidentifiable link purposes, a lack of discernible keyboard focus indicators, unprogrammatically determined UI elements, and inaccessible Portable Document Format (PDFs). These deficiencies prevent screen-reader users from effectively navigating and understanding the website's content, thereby denying equal access to its products and services.

This action highlights the significant legal risks faced by businesses operating e-commerce websites if they fail to design, maintain, and operate their digital platforms to be fully and equally accessible to blind and visually-impaired consumers. Such failures can lead to class action lawsuits, demands for permanent injunctions to implement WCAG 2.0/2.1 guidelines, and claims for statutory damages under ADA Title III and California's Unruh Civil Rights Act for denying equal access to disabled individuals.