In an astonishing move, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it will not issue any regulations for
public accommodations websites until fiscal year 2018 — eight years after it started the rulemaking process with an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM).
Not exact matches
Or that of other commentators like Eric Goldman, who warned (of a related court case) that «all hell will break loose» if the law defines
websites as
public accommodations and makes them adopt «accessibility»?
Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act doesn't mention
websites as a place of
public accommodation that must be available to all.1 (Government
websites, at the federal, state, and local level, must be accessible pursuant to Title II of the ADA.)
Tefertiller, who will receive a $ 600 prize, argued that a commercial
website is a place of
public accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
While this blog, and Seyfarth's Disability Access Team, are focused on disability access issues affecting places of
public accommodation that provide goods and services to the general
public (not employees, though many of our team members are employment specialists as well), this emerging litigation trend is worthy of our discussion here because it is an extension of the tsunami of
website accessibility demand letters and lawsuits pursued under Title III, involving the same technological and other issues, as well as the same plaintiffs and plaintiffs» attorneys.
CLIENT ALERT: Recent New York Federal Court Decision Confirms Applicability of the Americans with Disabilities Act to Various Commercial Consumer - Oriented
Websites as Places of «
Public Accommodation»
Places of
public accommodations, including
websites and apps, would have 6 months to bring their place of
public accommodation into compliance before a claimant could file a lawsuit seeking injunctive relief and attorneys» fees.
Court Determines That Grocer's
Website Not Used to Sell Goods Is
Public Accommodation Under the ADA
Two years ago a Massachusetts court ruled that Netflix, the giant video streaming service, is a place of
public accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act because its
website is «analogous» to a brick and mortar store.
The U.S. Department of Justice has issued an advance notice of proposed rule - making on this issue and has taken the position that
websites are places of
public accommodation.
Against this background, it's logical to anticipate that a
website devoted to the sale of real estate could be found sufficiently connected to physical places to be considered a place of
public accommodation subject to the ADA.
NAR Legal responds: The question of whether an entity that operates a «place of
public accommodation» under the Americans With Disabilities Act must also make any
website it operates also ADA accessible remains unresolved.
Although many questions remain about whether
websites are a «place of
public accommodation» under the ADA, including whether a
website operator must also have a physical presence to be subject to the law, these cases show that pressure is building on companies to make the information they provide on their
websites accessible.
The issue of whether a
website is a place of
public accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act is not yet clear, but providing an accessible
website may be a smart move in light of the recent legal and regulatory activity related to this issue.
In 2016, the Department began work on regulations for state and local government
website accessibility, which would have helped inform
website accessibility rulemaking for places of
public accommodations, including real estate brokerages.
Whether a
website constitutes a place of
public accommodation is an issue on which the federal courts are split.
While this rulemaking will result in regulations that only apply to state and local governments covered by Title II of the ADA, the Department noted that this rule will help with development of a rule for
website accessibility under Title III of the ADA, which governs
public accommodations, including real estate agencies and brokerages.
The question of whether an entity that operates a «place of
public accommodation» under the ADA must also make any
website it operates ADA - accessible remains unresolved.
As the article points out, in July 2010 the U.S. Department of Justice issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that took the position that
websites operated by entities that are
public accommodations under the act must be compliant with the ADA, and sought comment on that issue and on the development of regulations that would implement that requirement.
A Florida federal court has considered whether a business
website is a place of
public accommodation within the meaning of the Americans with Disabilities Act («ADA»).