Plaintiff
- Name: Angel Rodriguez
- Filing date: June 24, 2020
- State of filing: New York
Defendant
- Name: JRCigars.com, Inc.
- Website: www.jrcigars.com
- Industry: Tobacco
- Summary: JR Cigars sells cigars, loose leaf tobacco, vaporizers, e-cigarettes, and smoking accessories via its website.
Case Summary
On June 24, 2020, Angel Rodriguez filed a Complaint in New York Federal court against JRCigars.com, Inc.. Plaintiff Angel Rodriguez alleges that www.jrcigars.com is not accessible per the WCAG 2.1, Section 508 accessibility standard(s).
Case Details
Plaintiff alleges issues in its Complaint including the following:
- Focus skips around and there are unlabeled elements present throughout.
- After attempting to add the Honduran Luxury 8 Cigar Assortment to the cart, a dialog box was shown for a special offer. This offer was announced
- A second offer was then shown in a new dialog box and this was also accessible
- The third dialog box shown is the cart confirmation dialog. This was not announced. Instead, focus skipped this dialog and went directly to the Add to Cart button and it was announced again. This led Plaintiff and will lead other screen reader users to think that the Add to Cart button didn’t work.
- If a user attempts to add the product a second time, then focus skips the confirmation dialog box again and jumps down to the next item in the list so there appears to be no way to hear the status message and easily access the cart
- The first step of the checkout form is to enter an email and password if you have an account but neither have an accessible label. Plaintiff also attempted to do the guest checkout and had the same issue; the email field doesn’t have an accessible label
- The second step requires name and address but none of these fields have accessible labels either
- Error messages are shown onscreen but they are not announced
- Furthermore, Jrcigars.com lacks accessible image maps.
- Furthermore, Plaintiff is unable to locate the shopping cart because the shopping cart form does not specify the purpose of the shopping cart.
- Moreover, the lack of navigation links on Defendant’s website makes attempting to navigate through Jrcigars.com even more time consuming and confusing for Plaintiff and blind consumers.
- Jrcigars.com requires the use of a mouse to complete a transaction. Yet, it is a fundamental tenet of web accessibility that for a web page to be accessible to Plaintiff and blind people, it must be possible for the user to interact with the page using only the keyboard. Indeed, Plaintiff and blind users cannot use a mouse because manipulating the mouse is a visual activity of moving the mouse pointer from one visual spot on the page to another. Thus, Jrcigars.com’s inaccessible design, which requires the use of a mouse to complete a transaction, denies Plaintiff and blind customers the ability to independently navigate and/or make purchases on Jrcigars.com.
Plaintiff asserts the following cause(s) of action in its Complaint:
- Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12181 et seq.
- New York State Human Rights Law
- New York City Human Rights Law
- New York State Civil Rights Law
- Declaratory Relief
Plaintiff seeks the following relief by way of its Complaint:
- A preliminary and permanent injunction to prohibit Defendant from violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12182, et seq., N.Y. Exec. Law § 296, et seq., and N.Y.C. Administrative Code § 8-107, et seq., and the laws of New York;
- A preliminary and permanent injunction requiring Defendant to take all the steps necessary to make its website, Jrcigars.com, into full compliance with the requirements set forth in the ADA, and its implementing regulations, so that Jrcigars.com is readily accessible to and usable by blind individuals;
- A declaration that Defendant owns, maintains and/or operates its website, Jrcigars.com, in a manner which discriminates against the blind and which fails to provide access for persons with disabilities as required by Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12182, et seq., N.Y. Exec. Law § 296, et seq., and N.Y.C. Administrative Code § 8-107, et seq., and the laws of New York;
- An order certifying this case as a class action under Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a) & (b)(2) and/or (b)(3), appointing Plaintiff as Class Representative, and his attorneys as Class Counsel;
- An order directing Defendants to continually update and maintain its website to ensure that it remains fully accessible to and usable by the visually-impaired;
- Compensatory damages in an amount to be determined by proof, including all applicable statutory damages and fines, to Plaintiff and the proposed class for violations of their civil rights under New York State Human Rights Law and City Law;
- Plaintiff’s reasonable attorneys’ fees, expenses, and costs of suit as provided by state and federal law;
- For pre- and post-judgment interest to the extent permitted by law; and
- For such other and further relief which this court deems just and proper.
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