ADA Website Accessibility Cases In Florida, Georgia, And Alabama: Back To Square One?

For over a year now, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) website accessibility cases in federal district courts in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama have been at a near standstill pending an appeal to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in the matter of Gil v. Winn Dixie Stores. The appeal sought review of a trial court's judgment that Winn Dixie's website violated the ADA by not providing sufficient technology to allow a vision-impaired customer access to the website's virtual offerings that he would have then used in the physical store location. On April 7, 2021, the Eleventh Circuit vacated judgment, holding that under the ADA, Winn Dixie's website was not a "place of public accommodation." The decision at the Eleventh Circuit was reached by only a panel of three judges. The plaintiff then asked the Eleventh Circuit to rehear the case en banc, or to have all of the Eleventh Circuit judges decide the case again. On December 28, 2021, the Court granted plaintiff's