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ADA Lawsuits Hit Two Florida County Governments

MARTIN AND ST. LUCIE COUNTIES SETTLE ADA LAWSUITS OUT OF COURT

A legally blind Miami-Dade resident recently filed a lawsuit against Martin and St. Lucie Counties for claiming that their websites are not accessible to visually impaired readers, a violation of Title III of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). This same 1990 civil rights legislation that mandated modifications like wheelchair ramps for individuals with physical disabilities was expanded in 2000 to include the Internet and websites, which mandates that people with vision, hearing and other disabilities have access to navigate websites with assistive technology such as screen readers, speech recognition and closed captioning.

Rather than face higher litigation costs, St. Lucie County settled a $10,500 lawsuit on June 5, and Martin County settled for $16,000 on July 10. The suit caused city officials to temporarily remove public access to online video streaming and allocate funding for website updates and closed-captioning services. The Hometown News reported that Juan Carlos Gil and his Miami attorney, Scott R. Dinin, have filed nearly 100 similar lawsuits against a variety of public and private entities, including the Public Health Trust of Miami-Dade County, the University of Miami, the Ultra Music Festival, Winn-Dixie supermarket chain, Wet Willie’s chain of bars and its website developer, Sabre Technologies. They have also won settlements against Burger King, Wendy’s, Godiva, Ron Jon Surf Shops and Nespresso.

ADA WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY LAWSUITS ON THE RISE
In the last few years, there has been an unprecedented rise in the number of lawsuits against businesses whose websites are not compliant for users with disabilities. In fact, Florida ranks number two in the nation for the most lawsuits of this nature. Defending cases against them can cost businesses a significant amount of money in legal fees and settlements.

BETTER ACCESSIBILITY BENEFITS EVERYONE
Having an ADA-compliant website is a best practice that can provide your business with an opportunity to increase your customer base by potentially reaching more than 56 million people with disabilities who find it challenging to visit a brick-and-mortar store, allowing them instead to easily shop online in the comfort of their own home.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR WEBSITE ACCESSIBLE
It can be daunting to regularly review and keep your website ADA compliant. PD/GO Digital Marketing offers services that can help. For more information or to request a quote, email ada@pdgo.com or call 888-354-4946 ext. 1.

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