OLSEN v. MADISON REALTY CAPITAL, L.P.

    Plaintiff

    • Name: Thomas J. Olsen
    • Filing date: March 28, 2019
    • State of filing: New York

    Defendant

    • Name: Madison Realty Capital, L.P.
    • Website: www.whalebrooklyn.com
    • Industry: Real Estate
    • Summary: Madison Realty Capital, L.P. is a real estate investment firm that owns The Whale Brooklyn, a building in Brooklyn, NY, offering commercial office space.

    Case Summary

    On March 28, 2019, Thomas J. Olsen filed a Complaint in New York Federal court against Madison Realty Capital, L.P.. Plaintiff Thomas J. Olsen alleges that www.whalebrooklyn.com is not accessible per the WCAG 2.0 accessibility standard(s).

    Case Details

    Plaintiff alleges issues in its Complaint including the following:

    • Several images are not detected by the screen reader.
    • Plaintiff Olsen is also unable to access the images through the PDF brochure.
    • Plaintiff Olsen’s screen reader is able to access a list of area attractions but the map is completely inaccessible
    • The table of transit times for the Whale shuttle is not properly tagged therefore it is inaccessible to the screen reader
    • Plaintiff Olsen had a great deal of difficulty navigating this Website with his screen reader. He had repeated issues with screen reader focus, where focus would be unexpectedly redirected
    • The links on the Website also do not function properly with the screen reader
    • Many links are not properly labeled
    • Lack of alt-text for images
    • Document titles are blank
    • PDFs are not tagged and therefore are inaccessible to screen readers
    • Webpages have no headings
    • Forms have fields without label elements or title attributes
    • Webpages have markup errors

    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 Title III of the ADA, 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 the requirements set forth in Title III of 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 the Website in a manner that discriminates against the blind and which fails to provide access  for persons with disabilities as required by ADA, 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 Subclasses 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 damages in an amount to be determined by proof, including all applicable statutory damages, punitive damages and fines
    • 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

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