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ARTICLE · 20 MARCH 2024

SDNY Judge Gets Tough On Serial Website Plaintiffs

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Seyfarth Synopsis: SDNY Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil dismisses with prejudice a website accessibility lawsuit with vague allegations about plaintiffs' standing.

United StatesLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Lotus Cannon
Lotus Cannon
Minh Vu
Minh Vu
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Seyfarth Synopsis: SDNY Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil dismisses with prejudice a website accessibility lawsuit with vague allegations about plaintiffs' standing.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) has been a highly favored venue for serial plaintiffs bringing website accessibility lawsuits for years – at least in part because many judges have refused, at the outset of a case, to dismiss complaints with boilerplate allegations about a plaintiff's standing to sue. However, last year, we saw one decision from SDNY Judge Colleen McMahon that conducted a more rigorous standing analysis in website accessibility cases, and last week another SDNY Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil took a similar approach. Judge Vyskocil dismissed with prejudice a website accessibility complaint for lack of standing after a meaningful analysis of the plaintiffs' boilerplate complaint.

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