Web Accessibility Regulations Trigger Lawsuits

A few months ago, a local company came to Pixo, where I work, blindsided with a web accessibility lawsuit. The settlement claimed “substantial access barriers” on their website which made it “impossible for our clients and similarly situated stakeholders to access the site’s privacy-related information and legal terms and conditions, and to exercise privacy and legal choices available to persons who enjoy full access to the website.” Not only did the settlement ask for “injunctive relief, and reasonable attorney’s fee and costs,” they also requested extensive remedial measures to the company’s website and web practices, including assessment, training, user-testing, monitoring, and other policy and programming measures.

This is not an isolated incident. Hundreds of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) class action lawsuits were filed last year1 against retailers, banks, hospitals, universities, and other places of “public accommodation” for allegedly denying access to the visually impaired with websites neglecting accessibility functionality for screen readers and other assistive technologies.

Read more about web accessibility standards, whether or not your company or clients could be at risk of one of these predatory lawsuits, and what you should do about it in my full blog post on the Pixo blog at: http://www.pixotech.com/web_accessibility_lawsuits/