Plaintiff
- Name: Jose Figueroa
- Filing date: April 4, 2019
- State of filing: New York
Defendant
- Name: DashAmerica, Inc.
- Website: www.pearlizumi.com
- Industry: Leisure Products
- Summary: DashAmerica, Inc. makes and sells sporting goods, equipment, apparel, shoes, and accessories with an emphasis on bicycling.
Case Summary
On April 4, 2019, Jose Figueroa filed a Complaint in New York Federal court against DashAmerica, Inc.. Plaintiff Jose Figueroa alleges that www.pearlizumi.com is not accessible per the WCAG 2.1 accessibility standard(s).
Case Details
Plaintiff alleges issues in its Complaint including the following:
- Website, www.pearlizumi.com, requires the use of a mouse to make a purchase. Yet Plaintiff 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.
- Website contained a host of broken links, which prevented Plaintiff from browsing the Men’s section of the Website.
- Plaintiff was unable to create an account and set up a profile with his screen reading software, as he was required to use a mouse in order to input the requested information into the designated fields.
- Website also lacks prompting information necessary to allow Plaintiff to locate and narrow down a specific field of desired products and price range. This omission was exacerbated by the lack of alt. text, which is the invisible code embedded
beneath a graphical image on a website. - Nor did the Website provide Plaintiff with the ability to skim content, as Plaintiff was forced to manually scroll, line by line, in an effort to browse content of interest located toward the bottom of a given page.
- Finally, although the Website did provide a Chat feature, it was not a live chat and Plaintiff was unable to effectively communicate his questions and concerns which would in effect aid his browsing experience. Plaintiff ultimately left the site without making a purchase due to the lack of reasonable accommodations on the Website.
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., 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 make its Website into full compliance with requirements set forth in 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 its Website in a manner that 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., N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 8-107, et seq. and the laws of New York
- An order certifying the Class and the State and City Sub-Classes 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 and damages in an amount to be determined by proof, including all applicable statutory and punitive damages and fines, to Plaintiff and the proposed class for violations of their civil rights under the New York State Human Rights Law and New York City Law;
- Pre- and post-judgment interest;
- An award of costs and expenses of this action together with
reasonable attorneys’ and expert fees; and - Such other and further relief as this Court deems just and proper.
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