Divided Second Circuit Decides Long-Awaited Braille Gift Card Appeals, Affirming Dismissals Based On Standing

More than a year after oral arguments in Calcano v. Swarovski North America Ltd., No. 20-1552, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a lower court's dismissal of five nearly identical lawsuits brought by blind plaintiffs seeking to compel retail defendants to issue gift cards with braille on them. Although the dismissals were based both on the lack of standing and the absence of any legal requirement to place braille on the gift cards, the Second Circuit's majority decision on the consolidated appeals was limited to the absence of standing, remaining silent on the merits. The concurring opinion found standing in four of the cases but affirmed the dismissal on the merits.