Plaintiff
- Name: Michelle Tenzer-Fuchs
- Filing date: October 21, 2020
- State of filing: New York
Defendant
- Name: Swapalease, Inc
- Website: www.swapalease.com
- Industry: Automobile
- Summary: Swapalease, or swap-a-lease, is an automobile lease transfer and lease assumption company.
Case Summary
On October 21, 2020, Michelle Tenzer-Fuchs filed a Complaint in New York Federal court against Swapalease, Inc. Plaintiff Michelle Tenzer-Fuchs alleges that www.swapalease.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.
- Additionally, many features on the Website also fail to add a label element or title attribute for each field.
- The Website also contained a host of broken links, which is a hyperlink to a non- existent or empty webpage
- Moreover, because www.swapalease.com contains numerous navigational buttons lacking alt. text, Plaintiff’s screen reader could not help her navigate the pages of the site at all, and she quickly found herself hopelessly lost within the site with just a few clicks of her mouse.
- Worse still, when Plaintiff finally stumbled on vehicle she thought she and her husband would like, a Chevrolet vehicle allegedly being leased here in New York, she unfortunately found that no matter how hard she tried, she could not get her screen reader to describe any of the vehicle pictures to her besides the first one, nor could her reader read aloud more than just a couple words from the vehicle’s description, leaving Plaintiff frustrated and largely uninformed about the car she had selected.
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 the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12182, et seq., 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 into full compliance with the 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(2) et seq., N.Y.C. Administrative Code § 8-107, et seq., and the laws of New York
- An order certifying the Class and Sub-Classes under Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a) & (b)(2) and/or (b)(3), appointing Plaintiff as Class Representative, and her attorneys as Class Counsel
- Compensatory damages in an amount to be determined by proof, including all applicable statutory and punitive damages and fines, to Plaintiff and the proposed class and subclasses for violations of their civil rights under New York State and New York City Human Rights Law
- 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.
