Yesterday, on June 13, Judge Robert Scola of the Southern District of Florida issued his opinion on website accessibility in Gil v. Winn Dixie Stores, Inc. Case No. 1:16-cv-23020 (SD Fla. June 13, 2017) He conducted a two day trial, but the outcome was inevitable after his earlier decision denying a motion to dismiss. In that decision Judge Scola adopted, in essence, the reasoning of Nat’l Fed’n of the Blind v. Target Corp., 452 F.Supp.2d 946 (N.D. Cal. 2006). Target held that if a website had a sufficient nexus with a physical place of business then it was covered by the ADA as a service of that public accommodation. This sidestepped the more theoretical question of whether a stand alone website is a public accommodation. It appears to have been undisputed that the Winn-Dixie website offered services related to its brick and mortar stores, so the trial in which evidence of that fact was put in the record was really just a formality. More
Accessibility Litigation Trends
The interactive process under ADA Title III – maybe not the law, but a good idea anyway.
By Richard Hunt in Accessibility Litigation Trends, ADA Litigation Procedure, Interactive Process Tags: 8th Circuit, ada litigation, interactive process, Koester
ADA Litigation – cooking hotdogs with $100 bills.
By Richard Hunt in Accessibility Litigation Trends, ADA - drive-by litigation, ADA - serial litigation Tags: ada litigation, drive-by lawsuits, HR 241, HR 3765, serial ADA filers
The following link is to a story on ABC 15, Arizona concerning the latest developments in the ongoing investigation of abusive ADA litigation in Arizona and New Mexico. Local Judge Orders Release. The article explains the situation in some detail, but the basic news is simple. A private company hired lawyers and plaintiffs to file ADA lawsuits, paying for their services and pocketing what looks like a substantial profit. None of this might have ever come to light except that the number of suits (in the thousands) was astonishing even by ADA serial litigation standards.
For both disabilities advocates and firms like ours that defend ADA lawsuits this kind of report poses a critical question: Is this the norm, or an aberration? When we see dozens or hundreds of ADA suits filed in a short time by a single firm and plaintiff are we seeing a legitimate effort to create an accessible world or exploitation of a law for purely private benefit? More
Time for a do-over – the 9th Circuit gets indemnity and contribution right.
By Richard Hunt in Accessibility Litigation Trends, ADA indemnity contribution, FHA indemnity contribution
The Ninth Circuit’s April 24 decision in City of Los Angeles v. AECOM Services, Inc., 2017 WL 1431084 (9th Cir. Apr. 24, 2017), amended sub nom. City of Los Angeles by and through Dept. of Airports v. AECOM Services, Inc., 2017 WL 1844077 (9th Cir. May 9, 2017) represents a giant step in the direction of common sense with respect to indemnity and contribution under the ADA and, by extension, the FHA. The Court held that the party who is most responsible for an ADA violation should bear the cost of remediation. It doesn’t sound like a surprising result, but it runs counter to the prevailing law. More
Maybe a CO does mean something – rediscovering a safe harbor under the FHA.
By Richard Hunt in Accessibility Litigation Trends, Building Codes, Design Build Discrimination Tags: ANSI A117.1, Fair Housing Act, FHA, Judge Richard Leon, safe harbor
In a March 27, 2017 ruling Judge Richard Leon of the D.C. Circuit found a safe harbor in the Fair Housing Act that I haven’t seen referred to in any earlier published opinion. See, U.S. v. Mid-America Apt. Communities, Inc., 2017 WL 1154944 (D.D.C. Mar. 27, 2017). In the defense of FHA design / build cases the emphasis is usually on the statutory safe harbor in 42 U.S.C. §3604(f)(4), the ANSI A117.1 standard, or in one of the similar safe harbors recognized by HUD in 24 CFR §100.205(e). However, there is also safe harbor language in 42 U.S.C. §3604(f)(5), which provides that:
(5)(A) If a State or unit of general local government has incorporated into its laws the requirements set forth in paragraph (3)(C), compliance with such laws shall be deemed to satisfy the requirements of that paragraph.
and
(B) A State or unit of general local government may review and approve newly constructed covered multifamily dwellings for the purpose of making determinations as to whether the design and construction requirements of paragraph (3)(C) are met. More