Last updated on July 10, 2021

ADA Websites Lawsuits

Legal issues with ADA compliance no longer focus on tripping on sidewalks but rather on high-tech matters like websites and video closed-captioning for counties and cities.

You may be wondering how you can get sued over your website. As you may or may not know, website accessibility is not a joke. It’s the law.

With the vast majority of government information available on the Internet, lawsuits are on the rise. Last year Florida had the third-highest number of lawsuits, with 1,885 filed.

The city Seminole recently approved an $8,500 settlement agreement in the case of Open Access for All, Inc. and Andres Gomez v. the city of Seminole regarding the city website’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance.

The threat of a lawsuit kept the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office website on ice for 11 months before it got back up and running.

It has been brought up. In addition, the Town of Belleair’s website has had an advisory on the home page. The site is under renovation for nearly a year.

 

WEBSITE UNDER RENOVATION This website is currently under renovation to improve accessibility for users with disabilities. This process coincides with efforts to achieve and maintain compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. If anyone encounters an inaccessible feature on this website, please contact Christine Nicole, Town Clerk at (727) 588-3769 or [email protected] to advise what inaccessible feature was encountered, and to allow the Town to provide the desired information through alternative means, until such time as the website renovation is complete.

I guess this is a step taken by Belleair to prevent an ADA lawsuit?

I have no idea what is permissible. Nevertheless, a superficial accessibility test showed. Individual pages on Belleair’s website violated. Usability.gov and failed W3C best practices guidelines. Had contrast error alerts and critical accessibility problems? Some pages had level A issues and are unusable for some people?

A lot of factors go into ADA compliance. All the same. Belleair can perform an inexpensive ADA website audit. The audit will show where the site stands and give officials the needed info to ensure Belleair’s website is as accessible as other services.

Certain companies claim by adding a single line of code, you can have automated compliance? While providing an accessibility statement and certificate of ADA performance?

Pay now or pay later!