Website Accessibility And ADA Compliance

By now, readers of our blog are familiar with the topic of website accessibility and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"). Recently, thousands of lawsuits have been filed in federal courts alleging that company websites are not accessible to the visually or hearing-impaired, in violation of Title III of the ADA, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in "places of public accommodation."

Circuit Courts Are Split Concerning Website Accessibility and ADA Compliance.

A little more than a year ago, the California Court of Appeals ruled, in part, that "retail websites without any connection to a physical space" cannot constitute a "place of accommodation" under the ADA. And while the law concerning website accessibility remains unsettled in courts around the country, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals is not one of those jurisdictions. In the Third Circuit, the law remains that a stand-alone business website, without a