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Re: Seeking a New York based lawyer with ADA expertise

for

From: Steve Green
Date: Feb 26, 2018 11:17AM


There are some quick fixes but sadly, it's much more complex than that. Nearly 100 pages, a dozen templates and a bespoke JavaScript-heavy AJAX-based booking process that could take several weeks and maybe months to fix or perhaps rebuild completely.

Part of the "game" is that the plaintiff pushes for a very early trial (it's due to start this week) and you have to engage a lawyer asap to try and push back the trial date to have any chance of fixing anything before it goes to court. Bear in mind that the plaintiff does not want the company to fix the website - they want to maximise the financial pay-out.

Steve

-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of <EMAIL REMOVED>
Sent: 26 February 2018 16:27
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Seeking a New York based lawyer with ADA expertise


I would just add, from your description, a small/medium UK company with website hosted on US servers, or facing US customers, I'm going to guess it's also a smallish/medium website and therefore quite likely the issues are simple and quick fixes which will actually improve the site overall. Many content heavy sites of this size might use, say, 12 html pages and the issue may be in 2 templates generating dynamic content on the fly, so 2 might need simple fixing and you're all set.

It's likely a fix will cost you less than USD $1000.

I would be less worried about lawsuits and more worried about other unintended consequences.

Rob C


> On Feb 23, 2018, at 3:31 PM, < <EMAIL REMOVED> > < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>
> FYI, there is nothing in our US Sec. 508 regulation that requires information from foreign-based entities to be accessible.
>
> The law specifically applies only to US federal government ICT (information communication technology, under which a website and all of its content, including a/v, PDFs, social media, etc.). All ICT "Procured" by the federal government and used by the federal government must be accessible, regardless of where the "product" originates.
>
> However, there's room for interpretation by courts and federal agencies that if an entity (organization, academic institution, contractor) receives federal grant money or other federal funding, then the material created through those monies must meet Sec. 508 accessibility requirements.
>
> Commercial websites are not yet required to be accessible, although last year's Winn-Dixie settlement has set a court precedent that is supposedly fueling these lawsuits.
>
> Bottom line: it's murky. And with this type of lawsuit, only the lawyers get paid.
>
> Lainey Feingold would be my first recommendation. But also look at the
> American Bar Association's website for others who specialize in the
> area.
> https://www.americanbar.org/groups/bar_services/publications/bar_leade
> r/2017-18/january-february/accessibility-matters-experts-and-lawyers-w
> ith-disabilities-help-bars-find-eliminate-barriers.html
>
> — — —
> Bevi Chagnon, founder/CEO | <EMAIL REMOVED> — — —
> PubCom: Technologists for Accessible Design + Publishing consulting '
> training ' development ' design ' sec. 508 services Upcoming classes
> at www.PubCom.com/classes — — —
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Steve Green
> Sent: Friday, February 23, 2018 2:43 PM
> To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> Subject: [WebAIM] Seeking a New York based lawyer with ADA expertise
>
> I hope this isn't off topic. One of our clients has received a class action summons claiming one of their US websites is in violation of ADA. It's from an ambulance-chasing scumbag who started 15 similar class actions in January 2018. He has gone for smallish organizations who have enough money to be worth suing but are too small to put up much of a fight.
>
> Our client is actually a UK company that doesn't have any legal representation in the US, and they are looking for a New York based lawyer with ADA expertise to advise and represent them. Can anyone make any recommendations? My first thought was to contact Lainey Feingold (who is in California but probably knows everyone in the field) but I have not heard back from her.
>
> Regards,
> Steve Green
> Managing Director
> Test Partners Ltd
> 68-72 Queen Victoria Street, London EC4N 4SJ
> 020 3002 4176 (direct)
> 0800 612 2780 (switchboard)
> 07957 246 276 (mobile)
> 020 7692 5517 (fax)
> Skype: testpartners
> <EMAIL REMOVED>
> www.testpartners.co.uk
>
> Connect to me on LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/stevegreen2
>
> > > >