GARDENHIRE v. PALM BEACH AUTOGRAPHS, LLC

    Plaintiff

    • Name: Lance Gardenhire
    • Filing date: February 27, 2020
    • State of filing: Florida

    Defendant

    • Name: Palm Beach Autographs, LLC
    • Website: www.palmbeachautographs.com
    • Industry: Entertainment
    • Summary: Palm Beach Autographs is a sports memorabilia dealer in Palm Beach, Florida, specializing in autographs of professional athletes.

    Case Summary

    On February 27, 2020, Lance Gardenhire filed a Complaint in Florida Federal court against Palm Beach Autographs, LLC. Plaintiff Lance Gardenhire alleges that www.palmbeachautographs.com is not accessible per the WCAG 2.1 accessibility standard(s).

    Case Details

    Plaintiff alleges issues in its Complaint including the following:

    • Many features on the Website lacks alt. text, which is the invisible code embedded beneath a graphical image. As a result, Plaintiff was unable to differentiate what products were on the screen due to the failure of the Website to adequately describe its content.
    • Many features on the Website also fail to Add a label element or title attribute for each field. This is a problem for the visually impaired because the screen reader fails to communicate the purpose of the page element. It also leads to the user not being
      able to understand what he or she is expected to insert into the subject field.
    • The Website also contains a host of broken links, which is a hyperlink to a nonexistent or empty webpage. For the visually impaired this is especially paralyzing due to the inability to navigate or otherwise determine where one is on the website once a broken link is encountered.

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

    • Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12181 et seq. 
    • Declaratory Relief

    Plaintiff seeks the following relief by way of its Complaint:

    • A Declaratory Judgment that at the commencement of this action Defendant was in violation of the specific requirements of Title III of the ADA described above, and the relevant implementing regulations of the ADA, in that Defendant took no action that was
      reasonably calculated to ensure that its Website is fully accessible to, and independently usable by, individuals with visual disabilities;
    • A permanent injunction pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 12188(a)(2) and 28 CFR § 36.504(a) which directs Defendant to take all steps necessary to bring its Website into full compliance with the requirements set forth in the ADA, and its implementing regulations, so that its Website is fully accessible to, and independently usable by, blind individuals, and which further directs that the Court shall retain jurisdiction for a period to be
      determined to ensure that Defendant has adopted and is following an institutional policy that will in fact cause it to remain fully in compliance with the law—the specific injunctive relief requested by Plaintiff is described more fully in paragraph 8 above;
    • An award of costs and expenses of this action;
    • Payment of reasonable attorneys’ fees, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 12205 and 28 CFR § 36.505, including costs of monitoring Defendant’s compliance with the judgment (see Hadix v. Johnson, 143 F.3d 246 (6th Cir. 1998), aff'd in part, rev'd in part, 527 U.S. 343 (1999); Jenkins v. Missouri, 127 F.3d 709 (8th Cir. 1997); Walker v. U.S. Dep't of Hous. & Urban Dev., 99 F.3d 761 (5th Cir. 1996); Stewart v. Gates, 987 F.2d 1450, 1452 (9th Cir. 1993) (district court should permit compensation for the post judgment monitoring efforts by the plaintiff’s counsel that are “useful and necessary to ensure compliance with the court's orders”); Garrity v. Sununu, 752 F.2d 727, 738-39 (1st Cir. 1984); Adams v. Mathis, 752 F.2d 553 (11th Cir. 1985); Willie M. v. Hunt, 732 F.2d 383, 385, 387 (4th Cir. 1984); Bond v. Stanton, 630 F.2d 1231, 1233-34 (7th Cir. 1980); Northcross v. Board of Educ., 611 F.2d 624, 637 (6th Cir. 1979) (“Services devoted to reasonable monitoring of the court's decrees, both to ensure full compliance and to ensure that the plan is indeed working…are essential to the long-term success of the plaintiff's suit.”) (citing 3rd Circuit’s support for District Court’s award of prospective fees to plaintiff’s counsel);
    • An order certifying the Class under Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a) & (b)(2) and/or (b)(3), appointing Plaintiff as Class Representative, and his attorneys as Class Counsel; and
    • Such other and further relief as this Court deems just and proper. 

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