FISCHLER v. THE DURST ORGANIZATION INC.

    Plaintiff

    • Name: Brian Fischler
    • Filing date: March 26, 2019
    • State of filing: New York

    Defendant

    • Name: The Durst Organization Inc.
    • Website: www.hallettspoint.com
    • Industry: Real Estate
    • Summary: The Durst Organization Inc. commercial and residential real estate company, which owns 10 Halletts Point, a waterfront rental residential property in Astoria, Queens.

    Case Summary

    On March 26, 2019, Brian Fischler filed a Complaint in New York Federal court against The Durst Organization Inc.. Plaintiff Brian Fischler alleges that www.hallettspoint.com is not accessible per the WCAG 2.0 accessibility standard(s).

    Case Details

    Plaintiff alleges issues in its Complaint including the following:

    • Non-text images lacking alt-text describing them. They are not tagged with descriptions, just file names
    • The floor plan is completely inaccessible; when he chooses that link, no new information is detected
    • The images of neighborhood attractions were poorly labeled, with no alt-text
    • The Website uses unlabeled frames to organize content.
    • Lack of alt-text for images
    • Document titles are blank
    • Frames do not have a title
    • PDFs are not tagged and therefore are inaccessible to a screen reader
    • Webpages have markup errors
    • Webpages have no headings

    Plaintiff asserts the following cause(s) of action in its Complaint:

    • VIOLATIONS OF THE ADA, 42 U.S.C. § 12181 et seq.
    • VIOLATIONS OF THE NYSHRL
    • VIOLATIONS OF THE NYCHRL
    • DECLARATORY RELIEF

    Plaintiff seeks the following relief by way of its Complaint:

    • A preliminary and permanent injunction to prohibit Defendant from violating Title III of the ADA, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12182, et seq., N.Y. Exec. Law § 296, et seq., N.Y.C. Admin. 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 take its Website into full compliance with the requirements set forth in Title III of the ADA, and its implementing regulations, so that the Website is readily accessible to and usable by blind individuals
    • A declaration that Defendant owns, maintains and/or operates the Website in a manner that discriminates against the blind and which fails to provide access for persons with disabilities as required by ADA, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12182, et seq., N.Y. Exec. Law § 296, et seq., N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 8-107, et seq., and the laws of New York
    • An order certifying the Class and Subclasses under Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a) & (b)(2) and/or (b)(3), appointing Plaintiff as Class Representative, and his attorneys as Class Counsel
    • Compensatory damages in an amount to be determined by proof, including all applicable statutory damages, punitive damages and fines
    • Pre- and post-judgment interest;
    • An award of costs and expenses of this action together with reasonable attorneys’ and expert fees
    • Such other and further relief as this Court deems just and proper

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