Quick Hits

• A federal court in Minnesota recently ruled that the ADA’s “public accommodations” provision applies to websites, aligning with other courts that have made similar decisions.
• The plaintiffs who filed the suit claimed that the defendant’s website was not accessible to individuals with vision-related disabilities.
• The court rejected the argument that the ADA only applies to physical places of public accommodation, emphasizing the law’s broad evolving nature and denying the defendant’s motion to dismiss the case.

The defendant filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that Title III of the ADA only applies to “places of public accommodation,” and that a website is not a “place.” Although the issue was one of first impression in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Minnesota, several other circuit courts have addressed the issue, and while the Third, Sixth, and Ninth Circuits have ruled that places of public accommodation include only places with physical structures, the First and Seventh Circuits have ruled that the law is not so limited. Those circuit court decisions all involved insurance benefits, rather than websites, however. In contrast, many federal district courts across the country have addressed the issues specifically as to websites but have issued inconsistent decisions.

The Minnesota District Court analyzed the issue by examining, and rejecting, those cases from other jurisdictions that had held “places of public accommodation” did not include websites. The court concluded that the circuit courts’ “physical structure” requirement was dicta, i.e., not essential to the decisions and therefore not entitled to any deference. Moreover, to the extent that those decisions were on point, the court respectfully disagreed with them for several reasons.

First, the court reasoned, by reading the ADA so narrowly, those courts had failed to consider the law’s broad, remedial nature. Second, the court noted that Congress had not expressly limited the law to places with physical structures. Third, the court rejected any reliance on dictionary definitions of “place,” finding those definitions to be inconclusive. In addition, the court noted that the legislative history of the ADA, which Congress enacted prior to the advent of the internet, indicated that lawmakers intended the act to “adapt to changes in technology.” Finally, the court found it insignificant that Congress has failed to amend the ADA to expressly include websites, noting that the lack of any amendment “could just as easily reflect Congress’ understanding that no amendment was necessary.”

Based on those considerations, the court agreed with those courts that have held that a stand-alone website falls within the meaning of a “place of public accommodation” as defined in Title III of the ADA. Therefore, the court denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss the case.

Key Takeaways

While district court decisions are not binding in other jurisdictions, or even district court judges in the same district for that matter, this Minnesota case is an example of what the court described as a “growing number” of district courts that have issued similar holdings. Certainly, the case sends a strong message to businesses whose goods or services are available to online shoppers in Minnesota, regardless of the business’ location, that if their websites do not function properly for visually-impaired consumers using screen-reader technology, they could be named as defendants in a class action lawsuit, particularly given the litigious nature of the certain “serial plaintiffs” in such Title III cases. Businesses that sell their products or services nationwide via websites may want to audit those sites to make sure they function smoothly with such technology, to try to avoid that risk.