A federal district court judge ruled yesterday that a retailer may be sued if its website is inaccessible to the blind. The ruling was issued in a case brought by the National Federation of the Blind against Target Corp. (Northern District of California Case No. C 06-01802 MHP) The suit charges that Target's website is inaccessible to the blind,
and therefore violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the
California Unruh Civil Rights Act, and the California Disabled Persons
Act. Target asked the court to dismiss the action by arguing that no law
requires Target to make its website accessible. The Court denied
Target's motion to dismiss and held that the federal and state civil
rights laws do apply to a website such as target.com.
The suit, NFB v. Target, was filed as a class action on behalf of
all blind Americans who are being denied access to target.com. The named
plaintiffs are the NFB, the NFB of California, and a blind college
student, Bruce "BJ" Sexton.
The plaintiffs are represented by Disability Rights Advocates, a Berkeley-based non-profit law firm that specializes in high-impact cases on behalf of people with disabilities;Brown, Goldstein & Levy , a leading civil
rights law firm in Baltimore, Maryland; and Schneider & Wallace , a national plaintiff's class action and civil rights law firm based in San Francisco, CA.
The court held: "the 'ordinary meaning' of the ADA's prohibition
against discrimination in the enjoyment of goods, services, facilities
or privileges, is that whatever goods or services the place provides, it
cannot discriminate on the basis of disability in providing enjoyment of
those goods and services." The court thus rejected Target's argument
that only its physical store locations were covered by the civil rights
laws, ruling instead that all services provided by Target, including its
Web site, must be accessible to persons with disabilities.
"This ruling is a great victory for blind people throughout the
country," said NFB President Dr. Marc Maurer. "We are pleased that the
court recognized that the blind are entitled to equal access to retail
websites." Dr. Maurer explained that blind persons access websites by using keyboards in conjunction with screen-reading software, which vocalizes visual information on a computer screen.
Target's website contains significant access barriers that prevent
blind customers from browsing among and purchasing products online, as
well as from finding important corporate information such as employment
opportunities, investor news, and company policies.
The plaintiffs charge that target.com fails to meet the minimum
standard of web accessibility. It lacks compliant alt-text, an invisible
code embedded beneath graphic images that allows screen readers to
detect and vocalize a description of the image to a blind computer user.
It also contains inaccessible image maps and other graphical features,
preventing blind users from navigating and making use of all of the
functions of the website. And because the website requires the use of a
mouse to complete a transaction, blind Target customers are unable to
make purchases on target.com independently.
The plaintiffs originally filed the complaint in Alameda superior
court on February 7, 2006. The case was removed to federal district
court and assigned to Judge Marilyn Hall Patel. Target responded to the
suit by filing a motion to dismiss the case, which argued in part that
no civil rights laws apply to the Internet.
"We tried to convince Target that it should do the right thing and
make its website accessible through negotiations," said Dr. Maurer. "It
is unfortunate that Target took the position that it does not have to
take the rights of the blind into account. The ruling in this case puts
Target and other companies on notice that the blind cannot be treated
like second class citizens on the Internet or in any other sphere."
Explaining the ramification of the ruling, Mazen M. Basrawi, Equal
Justice Works Fellow at Disability Rights Advocates, noted that: "the
court clarified that the law requires that any place of public
accommodation is required to ensure that it does not discriminate when
it uses the internet as a means to enhance the services it offers at a
physical location."
"I hope that I can soon shop online at Target.com just like anyone
else," said UC Berkeley student BJ Sexton, who is a named plaintiff in
the lawsuit. "I believe that millions of blind people like me can use
the Internet just as easily as do the sighted, if websites are
accessible."
 About the National Federation of the Blind
With more than 50,000 members, the National Federation of the Blind
is the largest and most influential membership organization of blind
people in the United States. The NFB improves blind people's lives
through advocacy, education, research, technology, and programs
encouraging independence and self-confidence. It is the leading force in
the blindness field today and the voice of the nation's blind. In
January 2004 the NFB opened the National Federation of the Blind
Jernigan Institute, the first research and training center in the United
States for the blind led by the blind.
SOURCE National Federation of the Blind
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