The constellation Canis Major rises and falls with the sun during the hottest part July and August; hence the “dog days of summer.” Although only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun* the courts have been busy working in air conditioned chambers on ADA and FHA matters:
Just what is an accessible website?
Wright v. Thread Experiment, LLC, 2021 WL 243604, at *4 (S.D. Ind., Jan. 22, 2021) is a default judgment case, but it remains interesting because the Court expressly declined to order compliance with any version of WCAG, choosing instead to enter a much less specific permanent injunction ordering that the Defendant be enjoined:
from operating, utilizing, or maintaining www.threadexperiment.com unless and until it fully complies with the requirements of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12181 et seq., and its implementing regulations, 28 CFR § 36.302 et seq. Defendant is ORDERED to modify the existing features of www.threadexperiment.com and to remove barriers that prevent this website’s compatibility with screen reading technology so that it is accessible to blind or low-vision individuals utilizing screen reading technology.
The first sentence of this injunction seems to violate the general rule against injunctions that simply order compliance with the law. See, e.g., E.E.O.C. v. AutoZone, Inc., 707 F.3d 824, 842 (7th Cir. 2013). As the Court observes, there are no regulatory requirements for websites, so the first sentence is just an order to follow the ADA. More
Lady McBeth notoriously had a problem with some blood she needed to get rid of. It wasn’t a lot, but suppose she wanted to unload a pint of plasma at her local donation center. Would she be going to a service establishment subject to the ADA, or would this be some other kind of commercial transaction? That question is the subject of a recent DOJ Statement of interest that I’ll discuss in a minute. First though let’s take a look at buying and selling things in general. 
Early last month the Department of Justice filed a “Statement of Interest” in Migyanko v. Aimbridge Hospitality LLC¹ that should give pause to every business subject to Title III of the ADA; that is, every business. Two sentences from the Statement of Interest are of particular concern:
Serial litigators file lots of cases and that means lots of decisions, sometimes coming in batches. I’ve omitted a few decisions that say nothing more than the cases I have reviewed just to keep this blog manageable. If there is a theme, it is simply that despite very clear trends toward limiting serial litigation by paying more attention to standing, the outcome of any given case depends very much on the judge because there is still relatively little Circuit court guidance on some issues. Like Delacroix’s inspirational painting of Liberty Leading the People, celebrations of freedom from abusive ADA and FHA litigation may be premature. Before making any strategic decision you need to research the specific decisions of the judge who will hear your case because the ancien régime isn’t gone yet. 
Almost every claim brought under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act raises standing issues because, in almost every case, the lawsuit is the result of a plaintiff, usually sponsored by a law firm, seeking out an ADA violation in order to make money off a quick settlement.¹ The Supreme Court’s June 25, 2021 decision in Transunion LLC v. Ramirez, No. 20-297 (June 24, 2021) will significantly limit, but probably not eliminate modern industrial scale ADA litigation.