COTTO v. THE DUDES BREWING COMPANY, LLC

    Plaintiff

    • Name: Cesar Cotto
    • Filing date: June 24, 2019
    • State of filing: California

    Defendant

    • Name: The Dudes Brewing Company LLC
    • Website: www.thedudesbrew.com
    • Industry: Hotel, Restaurant and Leisure
    • Summary: The Dudes Brewing Company LLC owns and operates a chain of brewery restaurants and also sells bottled and canned beer at retail.

    Case Summary

    On June 24, 2019, Cesar Cotto filed a Complaint in California State court against The Dudes Brewing Company LLC. Plaintiff Cesar Cotto alleges that www.thedudesbrew.com is not accessible per the WCAG 2.0, Section 508 accessibility standard(s).

    Case Details

    Plaintiff alleges issues in its Complaint including the following:

    • The home page has graphics, links, and buttons that are not labeled or are incorrectly labeled, or lack alternative text ("Alt-text");
    • Multiple unlabeled or mislabeled buttons and links. Without descriptive alternate text, Screen reader users, have no clue about the purpose or function of the button or link;
    • Multiple pages containing insufficient navigational headings requiring Plaintiff to expend substantial additional time to access information;
    • Unable to browse products because product links and descriptions were inaccessible to screen reading technology;

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

    • Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12181 et seq. 
    • Unruh Civil Rights Act, California Civil Code § 51 et seq. 

    Plaintiff seeks the following relief by way of its Complaint:

    • A Declaratory Judgment that at the commencement of this action Defendant owns, maintains, and/or operates its Website in a manner which discriminates against the blind, fails to provide access to blind or visually-impaired individuals, and that Defendant took no action that was reasonably calculated to ensure that its Website is fully accessible to, and independently usable by blind and visually-impaired individuals in violation of California's Unruh Act, California CivilCode Section 51, et seq;
    • A preliminary and permanent injunction enjoining Defendant from further violations of the UCRA, Civil Code Section 51 et seq. with respect to the website and its moble app.
    • A preliminary and permanent injunction requiring Defendant to take the steps necessary to make the website readily accessible to and usable by blind and visually-impaired individuals but Plaintiff hereby expressly limits the injunctive relief to require that Defendant expend no more than $ 50,000 thereon;
    • An award of statutory minimum statutory damages of not less than $4,000 per violation pursuant to Section 52(a) of the California Civil Code;
    • An additional award of $4,000.00 as deterrence damages for each violation pursuant to Johnson v. Guedoir, 218 F. Supp. 3d 1096; 2016 U.S. Dist.LEXIS 150740 (USDC Cal, E.D. 2016);
    • For attorneys' fees and expenses pursuant to all applicable laws including,without limitation, Civil Code Section 52(a), but the total amount Plaintiff seeks to for each and every offense shall not exceed $24,000.00;
    • For pre-judgment interest to the extent permitted by law;
    • For costs of suit; and,
    • For such other and further relief as this Court deems just and proper.

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