The Eleventh Circuit recently issued a ruling that websites are not places of public accommodation, building upon decisions by other courts and deepening the divide among appellate.
Need for Clarity Becomes Even More Urgent Amid Competing Interpretations, Lack of Guidance
The 11th Circuit recently delivered a blow to serial plaintiffs by holding that a website is not a place of public accommodation for purposes of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The case,
Gil v. Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc.,
1 widens the nationwide circuit split as companies impatiently await guidance from the Department of Justice (DOJ) on the applicability of Title III to websites. Though the DOJ has thus far been reluctant to issue regulations, despite Congress’ pleas, that may change with the new administration. Guidance can’t come soon enough another updated version (version 2.2) of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), developed by a private group called the “World Wide Web Consortium” (W3C) and used as a measuring stick by many courts for accessibility standards in ADA cases, is scheduled for release soon, underscoring the fact that compliance wi
26 Apr 2021 - 8:18
The Peninsula
Doha: Mada Center and Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q), a Qatar Foundation partner university, are working together to educate students about digital accessibility in information and communication technology.
Mada Center strategy 2019-2021 in the education sector aims to enable this sector to ensure an inclusive education system at all levels and lifelong learning through information and communication technology in order to unlock the potential of persons with disabilities.
Based on its role as a strategic enabler in the field of information and communication technology access, Mada Center, in cooperation with strategic partners, is leading the development efforts in the field of ICT access and digital inclusion in order to emphasize the pioneering role of the State of Qatar in this field, which contributed to Qatar ranking first worldwide in The Digital Accessibility Rights Evaluation Index (DARE 2020) issued by the Global Informati
Thursday, April 22, 2021
On April 7, 2021, a split panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (the “11th Circuit”) issued its highly-anticipated decision in
Gil v. Winn-Dixie Stores, reversing a 2017 judgment against Winn-Dixie that found that the grocery chain’s website violated Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). The 11th Circuit reversed and remanded the case for further proceedings, in part, based on its finding that websites are not a “public accommodation” under the ADA.
While this decision is a victory for businesses especially in Florida, Alabama, and Georgia (the states within the 11th Circuit) that have dealt with a proliferation of website accessibility lawsuits in recent years, questions still remain for several reasons, as discussed below.