Plaintiff
- Name: Rusty Rendon
- Filing date: February 18, 2021
- State of filing: California
Defendant
- Name: Newell Brands, Inc.
- Website: www.exofficio.com
- Industry: Apparel
- Summary: Newell Brands owns and operates Ex Officio a line of travel clothing and accessories for sale at retail and via the internet.
Case Summary
On February 18, 2021, Rusty Rendon filed a Complaint in California State court against Newell Brands, Inc.. Plaintiff Rusty Rendon alleges that www.exofficio.com is not accessible per the WCAG 2.0 accessibility standard(s).
Case Details
Plaintiff alleges issues in its Complaint including the following:
- Spacer image missing alternative text which presents a problem because a layout spacer image does not have an alt attribute. Spacer images are used to maintain layout. They do not convey content and should be given null/empty alternative text (alt="") so they are not presented to users and are ignored by screen readers;
- Empty or missing form labels which presents a problem because, if a form control does not have a properly associated text label, the function or purpose of that form
control may not be presented to screen reader users. Form labels provide visible descriptions and
larger clickable targets for form controls; - Empty links which present a problem because a link contains no text. If a link contains no text, the function or purpose of the link will not be presented to the user. This can introduce confusion for keyboard and screen reader users;
- Broken ARIA references, which presents a problem because an aria-labelled by or aria-described by reference exists,
but the target for the reference does not exist. ARIA labels and descriptions will not be presented if the element referenced does not exist in the page; - Broken ARIA menu, which presents a problem
because an ARIA menu does not contain required menu items. ARIA menus are application menus (like those used in software menu) with a specific keyboard interactions. They are NOT for navigation links on a web site and must contain at least one menu item, menu item checkbox, or menu item radio element; and - Redundant Links where adjacent links go to the same URL address which results in additional navigation and repetition for keyboard and screen reader users.
Plaintiff asserts the following cause(s) of action in its Complaint:
Violations of the Unruh Civil Rights Act, California Civil Code § 51 et seq.
Plaintiff seeks the following relief by way of its Complaint:
- For a judgment that Defendant violated Plaintiff’s rights under the Unruh Civil Rights Act, California Civil Code § 51 et seq.
- For a preliminary and permanent injunction requiring Defendant to take the steps necessary to make the Website readily accessible to and usable by visually impaired individuals; but Plaintiff hereby expressly limits the injunctive relief to require that Defendant expend no more $20,000 as the cost of injunctive relief
- An award of statutory minimum damages of $4,000 per violation pursuant to section 52(a) of the California Civil Code; however, Plaintiff expressly limits the total amount of recovery, including statutory damages, attorneys’ fees and costs, and cost of injunctive relief not to exceed $74,999
- For attorneys’ fees and expenses pursuant to all applicable laws including, without limitation, California Civil Code § 52(a); however, Plaintiff expressly limits the total amount of recovery, including statutory damages, attorneys’ fees and costs, and cost of injunctive relief not to exceed $74,999
- For pre-judgment interest to the extent permitted by law
- For costs of suit
- For such other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper.
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