Articles Posted in Litigation

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How can the ADA apply to web sites?

While most hoteliers are aware of how the ADA affects architectural barriers, paths of travel, parking spaces, swimming pools and even guests’ service animals, a recent court ruling has opened up an entirely new area to litigation: websites.

When the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was enacted by Congress in July 1990, the Internet was in its infancy and few, if any, considered its applicability to cyberspace. But a San Francisco Federal judge’s recent decision not to dismiss a discrimination case against retailer Target Corporation has brought the issue to the forefront. Believed to be the first court ruling determining that the ADA’s architectural barrier requirements can apply to the Website of a private business, the stage is now set for increased ADA litigation involving Web accessibility.

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On October 26, 2006, the California state Court of Appeal ruled that disabled plaintiffs suing for damages under California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act (Unruh Act), must prove intentional discrimination in order to recover the $4,000 minimum damages per offense” that makes this kind of litigation so lucrative to plaintiffs and their lawyers.

In California, litigation filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the related Unruh Act and Disabled Persons Act (DPA) — which allows for a minimum of $1,000 per offense — has allowed plaintiffs to recover damages for multiple offenses from one defendant, plus attorneys’ fees. It is no wonder that, in California, filing this kind of litigation — which often focuses on highly technical violations — has become a cottage industry for plaintiffs groups and their lawyers. Because hotels are designated as “places of public accommodation” under the ADA, their owners have been routine targets of these groups.

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Hotels and other targets of ADA lawsuits have found a friend in the U.S. Constitution: Article III.

Many thousands of ADA lawsuits have been filed in federal District Courts in the past few years. A large percentage of the plaintiffs filing these lawsuits are represented by a handful of plaintiffs’ organizations that specialize in ADA lawsuits. Because plaintiffs can recover attorneys’ fees and litigation costs and — in California and several other states — damages, in addition to injunctive relief, plaintiffs’ organizations have become a cottage industry.

However, some federal courts have recently determined they have no authority to award attorney’s fees, because the plaintiffs failed to establish “Article III standing”.

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