On December 2, 2019, Rebecca Castillo filed a Complaint in California State court against Shinola/Detroit LLC.
Plaintiff Rebecca Castillo alleges that www.shinola.com is not accessible per the WCAG 2.0 accessibility standard(s).
Shinola is an American watchmaker, manufacturing and selling automatic watches for men and women available at retail and via its website. Shinola/Detroit LLC is in the Consumer Goods industry.
In the Complaint, Plaintiff notes the following issues with Defendant’s website, including:
- The home page has graphics, links, and buttons that are not labeled or are incorrectly labeled, or lack alternative text ("Alt-text").
- Plaintiff encountered multiple unlabeled or mislabeled buttons and links.
- Plaintiff encountered multiple pages containing insufficient navigational headings requiring.
- Plaintiff was unable to create an account because of an inaccessible signup system;
- Plaintiff was unable to make a purchase because of an inaccessible checkout system;
- Plaintiff was unable to find a brick-and-mortar location because the locations link was inaccessible to screen reading technology.
Plaintiff Rebecca Castillo asserts the following cause(s) of action against Defendant Shinola/Detroit LLC in its Complaint:
Unruh Civil Rights Act, California Civil Code § 51 et seq.
Plaintiff Rebecca Castillo 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 Civil Code Section 51, et seq;
- A preliminary and permanent injunction enjoining Defendant from further violations of the UCRA, Civil Code tj 51 ct seq. with respect to "shinola.com."
- A preliminary and permanent injunction requiring Defendant to take the steps necessary to make shinola.corn 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;
- Plaintiff seeks no relief related to any architectural barriers to access in this Complaint and expressly limits all claims to injunctive relief to modifications of Defendant's policies and procedures related to the Website.
- An award of statutory minimum statutory damages of not less than $4,000 per violation pursuant to ( 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 10 Cal, E.D. 2016);
- For attorneys'ees and expenses pursuant to all applicable laws including, without limitation, Civil Code ti 52(a);
- For pre-judgtnent interest to the extent permitted by law;
- For costs ofsuit; and,
- For such other and further relief as this Court deems just and proper.
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