WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: No decision from the Appeals court

for

From: Hall, Kevin (K.M.)
Date: Sep 30, 2004 11:07AM

Actually, I thought I was pointing out the incompetence of U.S. politicians, particularly in the area of modern technology (say, post-rotary telephone). I suppose my attempt at a bit of self deprecating humor fell short there.

Does anyone know how the law would handle a site that was changed drastically after a suit was filed? Particularly if the old pages cited in the suit were deleted or updated as a part of the change? Many places don't archive all old versions of their web sites as a standard practice so this seems like it could happen. Is that destroying evidence? Would the suit then be without merit because the breach is corrected or is the suit still valid based on the fact that at one time the site was inaccessible? This is a bit past my level of legal acumen.

I agree that the 'until user agent' statements in the WCAG would be seriously problematic for anyone trying to hold a site to that standard in court. I imagine a decent lawyer could argue that point to death. They are guidelines, not laws, and are written with that in mind. I don't think it's a very good idea to base legal cases on them.

Regards,
-Kevin Hall