E-mail List Archives

Search E-mail List Archives for

Number of posts in this thread: 9 (In chronological order)

From: Steve Green
Date: Fri, Feb 23 2018 12:42PM
Subject: Seeking a New York based lawyer with ADA expertise
No previous message | Next message →

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 organisations 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 ADDRESS REMOVED =
www.testpartners.co.uk
 
Connect to me on LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/stevegreen2

From: chagnon
Date: Fri, Feb 23 2018 1:31PM
Subject: Re: Seeking a New York based lawyer with ADA expertise
← Previous message | Next message →

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_leader/2017-18/january-february/accessibility-matters-experts-and-lawyers-with-disabilities-help-bars-find-eliminate-barriers.html

— — —
Bevi Chagnon, founder/CEO | = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
— — —
PubCom: Technologists for Accessible Design + Publishing
consulting ' training ' development ' design ' sec. 508 services
Upcoming classes at www.PubCom.com/classes
— — —

From: Steve Green
Date: Fri, Feb 23 2018 3:05PM
Subject: Re: Seeking a New York based lawyer with ADA expertise
← Previous message | Next message →

Our client owns a handful of small hotels, mostly in the UK, but one is in New York and the case is about the website for this one, so my understanding is that there are possible grounds for the class action. We have been following US ADA cases for many years and it seems to be a complete lottery - judgements go opposite ways on identical facts depending on where the cases are heard. The fact is that our client has to defend it otherwise the plaintiff wins by default.

Thanks for the recommendation of the American Bar Association - I'll take a look at that.

Steve

From: chagnon
Date: Fri, Feb 23 2018 4:03PM
Subject: Re: Seeking a New York based lawyer with ADA expertise
← Previous message | Next message →

Whichever route your client takes, advise them to correct the website immediately.
— — —
Bevi Chagnon, founder/CEO | = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
— — —
PubCom: Technologists for Accessible Design + Publishing
consulting ' training ' development ' design ' sec. 508 services
Upcoming classes at www.PubCom.com/classes
— — —

From: Katie Haritos-Shea
Date: Fri, Feb 23 2018 5:57PM
Subject: Re: Seeking a New York based lawyer with ADA expertise
← Previous message | Next message →

I think Steve was asking about an ADA lawsuit. The Americans with
Disabilities Act rulings and judgments have indeed
gone both ways. I also would recommend your client begin to takes steps to
make their website conform to WCAG 2.0 standards.

** katie **

*Katie Haritos-Shea*
*Principal ICT Accessibility Architect *

*WCAG/Section 508/ADA/AODA/QA/FinServ/FinTech/Privacy,* *IAAP CPACC+WAS = *
*CPWA* <http://www.accessibilityassociation.org/cpwacertificants>;

*Cell: **703-371-5545 <703-371-5545>** |* * = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
< = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >* *| **Oakton, VA **|* *LinkedIn Profile
<http://www.linkedin.com/in/katieharitosshea/>;*

People may forget exactly what it was that you said or did,
but people will never forget how you made them feel.......

Our scars remind us of where we have been........they do not have to
dictate where we are going.

On Fri, Feb 23, 2018 at 6:03 PM, < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:

> Whichever route your client takes, advise them to correct the website
> immediately.
> — — —
> Bevi Chagnon, founder/CEO | = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> — — —
> PubCom: Technologists for Accessible Design + Publishing
> consulting ' training ' development ' design ' sec. 508 services
> Upcoming classes at www.PubCom.com/classes
> — — —
>
>
>

From: Steve Green
Date: Sat, Feb 24 2018 5:48AM
Subject: Re: Seeking a New York based lawyer with ADA expertise
← Previous message | Next message →

That's what they brought us in to do - we have not worked with them previously so there's quite a bit to do. In fact that's how I will be spending my entire weekend.

Steve

From: Ryan E. Benson
Date: Sun, Feb 25 2018 1:16AM
Subject: Re: Seeking a New York based lawyer with ADA expertise
← Previous message | Next message →

> our US Sec. 508 regulation that requires information from foreign-based
entities to be accessible.

ADA and 508 are two different things. Unless Steve's client is getting
federal monies from the US Federal government, 508 is not applicable at
all. 504 may be though.

> 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.

There's actually a gray area too, but that and the line I quoted isn't
applicable based on the first e-mail.



--
Ryan E. Benson

On Fri, Feb 23, 2018 at 3:31 PM, < = EMAIL ADDRESS 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_leader/2017-18/january-february/accessibility-
> matters-experts-and-lawyers-with-disabilities-help-bars-
> find-eliminate-barriers.html
>
> — — —
> Bevi Chagnon, founder/CEO | = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> — — —
> PubCom: Technologists for Accessible Design + Publishing
> consulting ' training ' development ' design ' sec. 508 services
> Upcoming classes at www.PubCom.com/classes
> — — —
>
>
>

From: escetic
Date: Mon, Feb 26 2018 9:26AM
Subject: Re: Seeking a New York based lawyer with ADA expertise
← Previous message | Next message →

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 ADDRESS REMOVED = > < = EMAIL ADDRESS 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_leader/2017-18/january-february/accessibility-matters-experts-and-lawyers-with-disabilities-help-bars-find-eliminate-barriers.html
>
> — — —
> Bevi Chagnon, founder/CEO | = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> — — —
> PubCom: Technologists for Accessible Design + Publishing
> consulting ' training ' development ' design ' sec. 508 services
> Upcoming classes at www.PubCom.com/classes
> — — —
>
>
>

From: Steve Green
Date: Mon, Feb 26 2018 11:17AM
Subject: Re: Seeking a New York based lawyer with ADA expertise
← Previous message | No next message

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