New York Post: Judges expand ADA rule to include more websites
By: Lisa Fickenscher
Ka-ching!
A gold mine for the plaintiff’s bar has recently gotten deeper and wider.
Rulings this month by two New York federal court judges expanded the number of corporate Web sites that must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act — prompting a new rush of lawsuits against unsuspecting stores.
The judges ruled that even companies that don’t have a physical store must operate sites that are compatible with screen-reading software for the visually impaired.
Previously, courts have ruled that only brick-and-mortar stores had to comply with ADA — in essence, giving the same accommodation to online shoppers that they give to shoppers in their physical locations.
Across the US, hundreds of lawsuits have already been filed against brick-and-mortar chains whose sites lack screen-reading software.
Experts believe that number will mushroom under the two recent rulings, including one against Five Guys.
“A Web site is a place of public accommodation” Judge Jack B. Weinstein, in Brooklyn federal court, wrote in his 37-page ruling filed on Aug. 1.
Lawyers can collect up to $25,000 in fees for each successful suit. Often the same plaintiff and firm file suits against groups of retailers.
“Most owners don’t know their Web sites are not accessible until they get hit with one of these lawsuits,” said Andrew Rigie, executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance.
“The lawyers are driving this litigation,” according to Tom Stebbins, executive director of the Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York, who claims that most of these cases are brought by lawyers looking for plaintiffs rather than the other way around.
“Ideally companies would … voluntarily … make their Web site compatible,” said Douglas Lipsky a partner with Bronson Lipsky, who is representing a single plaintiff in several suits.
It could cost $37,000 to bring sites into ADA complaince.
Lipsky said the ruling by Weinstein and a second judge have “brought the issue to the forefront.”