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ADA

ADA

Overview

Important state and federal disability laws are in place to ensure individuals with disabilities have access to places of public accommodation. Unfortunately, a cottage industry of plaintiffs’ attorneys abuse these laws to enrich themselves rather than advance disability access.

These plaintiffs’ attorneys issue threatening demand letters or file shakedown lawsuits, primarily aimed at small and vulnerable businesses. The goal — to extract settlements from businesses who may have done nothing wrong but can’t afford to go through expensive litigation.

A growing trend in ADA shakedown lawsuits is in the area of website accessibility. Businesses desire to provide access to their websites to all consumers and to comply with the ADA, but the absence of clear standards on website accessibility has resulted in a new wave of litigation. ADA-based cases reached a total of 4,055 in 2021, that is 15% higher than the previous year.[1]

The solution is for the U.S. Department of Justice to adopt clear technical standards for website accessibility, that incorporate following:

  • Include unambiguous language establishing the need to have a clear nexus between the website and the services provided at a physical business location.
  • Provide clear definitions for “accessible” and “effective” communication.
  • Ensure standards are not cost-prohibitive and unduly burdensome for businesses to implement.
  • Continue to provide businesses flexibility on how to comply with regulatory directives.
  • Provide an indefinite Safe Harbor for those businesses that have completed website remediation according to WCAG 2.0AA or above.
  • Provide a reasonable implementation deadline of at least one year to 18 months.

Clear and balanced standards that take into consideration the needs of the website user, as well as the compliance burden on businesses, will promote businesses’ compliance with the ADA and expand website accessibility.


[1] Taylor, 2021 YEAR END REPORT – APP & WEB ACCESSIBILITY LAWSUITS BREAK RECORDS, December 21, 2021; https://blog.usablenet.com/2021-lawsuit-report-trends-and-findings

OP Ed

Striking a Balance: CJAC’s Pursuit of Fair Laws for Business and Disability Access

The Valley Economic Alliance - February 20, 2024

The Valley Economic Alliance published version here
By Jaime Huff

State and federal disability laws play a crucial role in ensuring equal access to public spaces for individuals with disabilities. Unfortunately, small and minority-owned businesses in California have long been burdened with frivolous lawsuits that exploit these laws.

OP Ed

Reject legislation that will increase costs, clog our courts, and enrich plaintiffs’ lawyers

Los Angeles Daily News - July 4, 2023

Arbitration text
Los Angeles Daily News published version here
By Kyla Christoffersen Powell

Plaintiffs’ lawyers are at it again. They are pushing for policies that will further drive up the cost of doing business in California and saddle our over-burdened courts with more unnecessary litigation. It should be no surprise these policies will make lawyers richer.

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