DAYTON — The News Center 7 I-Team has uncovered 15,000 lawsuits targeting businesses nationwide, including those in Ohio.
They all surround the Americans with Disabilities Act and the ability of blind people to access websites they have the legal right to use.
However, business owners told News Center 7 that they feel targeted, and now it has garnered the attention of the National Retail Federation.
The I-Team’s Xavier Hershovitz digs through the lawsuits and why legal experts say this isn’t cut and dry.
Luz Marina Rosenfield has been blind for 15 years. Many things that people take for granted become difficult, like navigating a website.
“You can’t just go and work with them. My husband has to help me in some areas,” Rosenfield said.
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Many people use different reader programs to help them online. But Rosenfield says a lot of websites just aren’t usable.
“Very, very challenging. Many times, I couldn’t get in websites,” she said.
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, companies must make things accessible for those with disabilities, including their websites.
Business owner Sara Campbell said, “You just can’t figure it out as you go along.”
Campbell owns a clothing store with physical locations along the East Coast, but her online store has taken off.
“We were very naïve about ADA compliance when we started this,” Campbell said.
Shortly after launching saracampell.com, she was hit with a lawsuit.
“The lawyer gets involved. The lawyer threatens us. It’s out of a different state. You know, we’re scared to death,” Campbell said.
She’s not alone. Restaurants are also affected.
Jacques Klempt, who owns a restaurant in Jacksonville, Fl, said, “My attorneys told me I can fight it, but I’m going to lose.”
News Center 7’s sister stations combed through tens of thousands of lawsuits across the country. The investigation found more than 15,000 in the past four years, claiming visual impaired people had trouble accessing a company’s website.
Several Ohio companies were targeted, including Wendy’s, Skyline Chili, and Bath and Body Works.
From large to small, the lawsuits add up for these businesses.
“I’d say we’re almost up to $200,000. It hurts their bonuses; it hurts pay raises. It hurts. It’s real money,” Campbell said.
Costs they often have to pass on to customers to make ends meet.
Stephanie Martz, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel for the National Retail Federation, said, “This is one of the first issues that hit my radar when I became the general counsel.”
The National Retail Federation represents nearly 4 million American retailers and says its members care deeply about accessibility.
“We want to sell things to everybody,” Martz said.
She says retailers have no way to 100 percent verify their sites are ADA compliant. “Any time that you introduce a new product or you change a feature of your website, it could very well break something related to accessibility that you wouldn’t know about,” she said.
Our nationwide investigation found that out of the nearly 4,000 cases we tracked, 90 percent of them were filed by just 16 law firms.
Judy McMorrow, Professor of Law Emeritus at Boston College Law School, said, “The fact that lawyers specialize in a certain area of practice. It’s not a red flag, it’s actually a social good.”
McMorrow specializes in legal ethics. She said many lawyers specialize in a certain area of the law. Lawyers are required to look at two things: a factual basis and a legal basis for a lawsuit, which she believes many of these cases have.
“You might not like the lawyer, you might complain about them, but that’s not a legal ethics issue. If there’s a good faith legal and factual basis, it might be what people are really concerned bout is the content of the ADA and its application in the case of Internet access to businesses,” McMorrow said.
That’s why the National Retail Federation believes this is something lawmakers should address.
“When the ADA was drafted in the late 80s, early 90s, and signed by President Bush, it was really aimed to cover physical spaces. The notion of e-commerce was not even a glimmer in anyone’s eye then,” Martz said.
That would help business owners like Campbell make sure their sites are accessible. But also, protect people like Rosenfield, so she has the same access to the increasingly important digital world as everyone else.
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