By Minh Vu, Kristina Launey, Susan Ryan Seyfarth Synopsis: ADA Title III lawsuit filings in federal courts on pace for a record year. Regular readers will doubtless recall that 2020 was a down year (but just barely) for lawsuits filed in federal court alleging violations of Title III of the ADA.  Our mid-year total was 4,751, due to lockdowns in April and May.  That was the lowest mid-year number we’d seen since 2017.…

By: John W. Egan Seyfarth Synopsis: In navigating the contentious issue of COVID-19 passports, businesses need to be aware of their obligations to make reasonable modifications to their policies, practices and procedures applicable to patrons with disabilities. New York City recently announced that it would require COVID-19 vaccination passports for many indoor activities. Conversely, some jurisdictions such as Florida and Texas have implemented anti-vaccine passport orders.  Like some states, the federal administration has taken…

By Kristina M. Launey & Minh N. Vu Seyfarth Synopsis: ADA Title III website accessibility lawsuits filed in federal courts in 2020 jumped a surprising 12% over 2019, in spite of a mid-year pandemic dip in filings. The numbers are in for total website accessibility lawsuit filings in federal courts in 2020, and to our surprise they show a significant increase from 2019. The total number of lawsuits filed in federal courts alleging that plaintiffs with…

Seyfarth Synopsis: Congressmen Budd, Hudson, and Correa reintroduce the Online Accessibility Act which would govern the application of the ADA to websites and mobile applications. By Kristina M. Launey On February 18, 2021, U.S. Representatives Ted Budd (R-NC), Richard Hudson (R-NC), and Lou Correa (D-CA) re-introduced the Online Accessibility Act in Congress as H.R. 1100. The bill would codify the principle declared by some courts, such as the Ninth Circuit in Domino’s, that a…

Please join us on Thursday, March 11 for a webinar entitled ADA Title III Pandemic Year Updates: Hot Issues and Litigation Trends. The COVID 19 pandemic caused a slight slowdown in ADA Title III lawsuit filings in 2020 but the ADA Title III plaintiffs’ bar quickly adapted and the courts are again flooded with these suits like never before. In this webinar, Seyfarth’s ADA Title III Team leaders will address how the pandemic has affected…

By Minh N. Vu and Kristina Launey Seyfarth Synopsis: We predict 2021 will be a very busy year for ADA Title III lawsuits.  Here is our take on the types of cases public accommodations can expect to face. 2020 was, by all accounts, an unusual year.  The year began with some prolific plaintiffs’ attorneys turning their attention from website accessibility lawsuits to lawsuits claiming that the ADA requires gift cards containing Braille. That gambit…