ATLANTA—The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has ruled a website is not considered a place of public accommodation in a lawsuit involving the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The lawsuit had been brought against Winn-Dixie Stores and challenged the grocery chain's use of its website to host coupons, which the plaintiff claimed made it a place of public accommodation. The ruling is of strong interest to credit unions, which have been named as defendants in numerous lawsuits making similar allegations. Courts have generally ruled in favor of credit unions, but often only after appeal.
"The statutory language in Title III of the ADA defining ‘public accommodations’ is unambiguous and clear," the decision states. "It describes twelve types of locations that are public accommodations. All of these listed types of locations are tangible, physical places. No intangible places or spaces, such as websites, are listed…Thus, we conclude that, pursuant to the plain language of Title III of the ADA, public accommodations are limited to actual, physical places. Necessarily then, we hold that websites are not a place of public accommodation under Title III of the ADA."
The court – which has jurisdiction in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia – further ruled the website’s lack of accessibility to the visually impaired was not an “intangible barrier” to their ability to access the store and did not prevent individuals from shopping there, NAFCU noted in its analysis.
“There have been several conflicting decisions on the issue. In 2019, the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from Domino's Pizza, leaving in place the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit's ruling that ADA requirements are applicable to websites and mobile applications. As credit unions have been the target of meritless lawsuits under the ADA due to unclear website accessibility requirements for several years, NAFCU has urged the Department of Justice and Congress to provide clarity and guidance on the issue,” NAFCU stated, following the ruling “NAFCU and its members strongly support the protections set forth under the ADA but believe these efforts are best achieved through clear guidance and standards for website compliance, not through meritless and costly lawsuits. The association will continue to seek clarity for credit unions.”