Southeast ADA Center
2022
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Andres Gomez, who is legally blind, sued Trinitas Cellars, LLC (vineyard) in November 2021 claiming the vineyard’s website was not accessible to him violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act.
Gomez said he was on the vineyard’s website to get information about wines sold at the vineyard and learn about the wine tasting tours.
Gomez said (1) the pictures on the website did not have alternative text readable by his screen-reader software (“SRS”); (2) the website had script elements not readable by his SRS; and (3) the color contrast between the background and the foreground of the vineyard’s webpage was too low. Gomez further claimed that because the website’s accessibility was poor, he did not have full and equal access to the vineyard.
In 2022, the vineyard asked the court to dismiss the case saying that the supplemental jurisdiction of the Unruh Act claim should be denied, that Gomez lacked standing (meaning Gomez was injured by the inaccessible website) under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) 12(b)(1), and that he failed to state a claim under FRCP 12(b)(6). This court ruled in favor of the vineyard.
https://adasoutheast.org/court/gomez-v-trinitas-cellars-llc/
Keywords: ADA Title III, Americans with Disabilities Act, California, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Unruh Act, digital accessibility, failure to state a claim, motion to dismiss, nexus analysis, place of public accommodation, standing, website accessibility