Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires places of public accommodation, such as hotels, shopping centers, retailers, health care providers, restaurants, and private educational institutions to maintain facilities accessible to the disabled. Most businesses understand their obligations to make their physical facilities accessible under the ADA. Increasingly, however, companies also face the threat of legal action based on claims that their websites and/or mobile applications are inaccessible to disabled users. What many businesses do not realize is that in the internet age, ADA accessibility may involve more than compliance with architectural and structural requirements for physical facilities - websites and mobile applications may be required to be accessible as well.
In 2016, more than 250 lawsuits were filed against businesses, primarily in the retail, hospitality, and financial services industries, alleging that the companies’ websites were inaccessible to users with disabilities. The exposure in these cases can entail not only
This program, taught by Gibbons P.C. attorneys Mark S. Sidoti and Jeffrey L. Nagel, the Directors of the Business & Commercial Litigation practice, will outline the current law surrounding website accessibility, describe the threat facing businesses and discuss ways to mitigating these threats.
Learning Objectives:
Mr. Sidoti – a commercial and products liability litigator and Chair of the Gibbons E-Discovery Task Force – draws on his more than 28 years of litigation experience to help his clients assess and surmount a wide range of business challenges that require savvy negotiation and, at times, aggressive litigation. Whether the issues revolve around contract disputes, financial services, restrictive covenants, corporate medical litigation, or products liability, Mr. Sidoti combines his litigation skills with a broad knowledge of e-discovery law and information governance principles to help his clients navigate the critical cost/benefit analysis involved in every litigation and to reach the most favorable resolution in the most economical way.
Mr. Sidoti is a Director in the Gibbons Products Liability and Business & Commercial Litigation Departments. His varied litigation practice focuses on business and healthcare litigation of all types. He has handled high stakes cases in various business areas, as well as high profile catastrophic injury, wrongful death, and wrongful birth cases in the corporate medical arena, specifically in the clinical laboratory industry. As Chair of the Gibbons E-Discovery Task Force, Mr. Sidoti heads an interdisciplinary group that provides counseling, training, and litigation-related assistance to companies on a full range of information management and e-discovery matters. He is a frequently sought educator and lecturer in both his primary disciplines – clinical laboratory risk and e-discovery/information governance. He practices before the state and federal courts of New York and New Jersey, as well as throughout the United States. He is listed in New York Super Lawyers among New York’s leading lawyers in the area of business litigation and is AV® Preeminent Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell.
Mr. Nagel’s experience includes first-chair trial and appellate work. He concentrates his practice on business and commercial litigation, international and domestic arbitration, compliance, internal investigations, class actions, and general counseling. Mr. Nagel advises clients in areas involving securities law and regulation, contract disputes, competition law, anti-money laundering and FCPA compliance, international arbitration, private equity and hedge fund issues, employment law, real estate disputes, and a variety of general commercial issues.
Mr. Nagel has substantial experience working with financial institutions, including banks, hedge funds, and private equity firms. He has worked with both public and private companies, many of which are international in scope. His clients include large and well-known manufacturers, publishing and media companies, real estate companies, and insurance companies. He also works with mid-sized clients, advising them on business practices, compliance issues, pre-litigation corporate structuring, employment matters, and data security and privacy issues. Mr. Nagel’s practice includes corporate advisory work, internal investigations, regulatory counseling, mediation, arbitration, and litigation in state and federal courts, including appellate work.
Mr. Nagel serves on the firm’s Professional Development Committee, as a senior member of the firm’s Electronic Discovery Task Force, and as the co-editor-in-chief of the Gibbons E-Discovery Law Alert blog.
This presentation was a good introduction to the accessibility obligations that are applicable to private e-commerce websites. Advances in the WCAG web accessibility standards now give rise to new obligations so I look forward to the next iteration / update to this presentation.
I enjoyed the program.
it's a good 100-level overview of this area.
Excellent presenttion.
Very well done. Hit all the key topics. Written materials vert helpful as well. Thank you!
Really well done.
Interesting topic Helpful information for everyone
Interesting course; good written materials.
Very informative presentation on this emerging issue.
These guys are great and will be the first call I make if I have an issue!
Didn't realize there were so many sources of liability - great overview
Great practical detail for time allowed. Two speakers integrated very well and professionally.
I had no idea this was even an issue.
Excellent. Very helpful.
Worth watching
Good presentation
Enjoyed this program! Very interesting and informative topic! Both speakers were knowledgeable and gave helpful information! Excellent!
I do prefer having more than one speaker, especially on such a complicated topic. Thanks!
Good speakers