[NFBC-Info] FW: [GTTsupport] US Supreme Court Won't Hear The Domino's Case (Hooray!)

Tue Oct 8 08:42:49 UTC 2019

A great victory in the blindness  movement!

Original Message: 
From: "Albert Ruel" <albertruel at gmail.com>
To: <GTTSupport at Groups.io>
Subject: [GTTsupport] US Supreme Court Won't Hear The Domino's Case
(Hooray!)
Date: 
Mon, 7 Oct 2019 16:28:50 -0700

US Supreme Court Won't Hear The Domino's Case (Hooray!)
<https://www.lflegal.com/2019/10/dominos-supreme-court/> 

lflegal.com

US Supreme Court Won't Hear The Domino's Case (Hooray!)

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article

pizza slices with gooey cheese

Great news for advocates of digital inclusion for people with
disabilities!
Today the United States Supreme Court rejected Domino's Pizza's efforts
to

overturn the Ninth Circuit federal appeals court opinion in the Domino's
web
and mobile accessibility case. 

That appeals court opinion said that disabled people can bring claims
under
the Americans with Disabilities Act if a website or mobile application is
not

accessible. Domino's efforts to gut the ADA and get this opinion
overruled
failed. 

The case of Domino's Pizza, LLC v. Robles, Guiollermo, Case number
18-1539
is on the Supreme Court's October 7, 2019 list of cases under the title
"CERTIORARI

DENIED." 

Cert Denied, as it is referred to by lawyers, means the Court will not
even
consider the case. No reasoning, no ruling one way or the other, and we
don't

know if any justices disagreed. 

All we know is that the highest court in the United States will not rule
(at
least in the Domino's case) on website or mobile accessibility lawsuits
under

the ADA. And that the Ninth Circuit's opinion in favor of ADA coverage of
websites and mobile apps remains good law. Whew!!

Read the 

full list of orders the Supreme Court issued today.

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Digital accessibility in the legal space lives to see another day

The US Supreme Court's action today means that the ruling of the Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals in the Domino's case is good law. That ruling
held
that

the case against Domino's Pizza under the ADA based on its inaccessible
website and mobile application could remain in court. 

The Ninth Circuit held that Title III of the ADA covers both mobile
applications and websites with a connection (nexus) to a physical place of
public accommodation.

(The court did not say that websites not connected were not covered by
the
ADA, it just did not decide that issue.) In footnote 6 it wrote: "We need
not

decide whether the ADA covers the websites or apps of a physical place of
public accommodation where their inaccessibility does not impede access to
the

goods and services of a physical location." 

Domino's could have made its website accessible after that ruling, but
instead chose to keep fighting, and asked the US Supreme Court to overrule
the Ninth

Circuit. Today the Supreme Court declined Domino's request.

I wrote about the 

Ninth Circuit opinion in the Domino's case back in January, 2019

when the order came out. In the post I pulled out some of my favorite
quotes
from the opinion, including this one. This quote and others are still
good

law after the US Supreme Court's announcement today:

block quote

Moreover, since it announced its position in 1996, DOJ has "repeatedly
affirmed the application of [T]itle III to Web sites of public
accommodations."

75 Fed. Reg. 43460-01, 43464 (July 26, 2010). Thus, at least since 1996,
Domino's has been on notice that its online offerings must effectively
communicate

with its disabled customers and facilitate "full and equal enjoyment" of
Domino's goods and services.

And in any case, our precedent is clear that, "as a general matter, the
lack
of specific regulations cannot eliminate a statutory obligation. Ninth
Circuit

Opinion in Domino's Pizza case.

block quote end

You can 

read the full 25 page Ninth Circuit opinion (PDF) here.

What's Next for the Domino's Case?

My post about the Domino's Ninth Circuit opinion was titled "Big Win for
Web
Accessibility in Domino's Pizza case," and it was. (For mobile
accessibility

too.) But even now, the case is not over. 

The Ninth Circuit opinion said the case could stay in court; that a
disabled
person could pursue a claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act for

web and mobile accessibility. The U.S. Supreme Court left that opinion
alone. 

But the the blind plaintiff has not won the Domino's case yet. Now that
it
is decided the case can stay in court, it goes back to the Federal
District

Court in California for further proceedings.

One of two things can happen: the parties can keep fighting, or the
parties
can settle. It's not hard to guess what I think should happen. 

Domino's could have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars by removing
barriers on its website and settling the case. Company costs have only
gone
up in

choosing to fight. Although nothing on LFLegal.com is legal advice
(including this post) I'd go so far as to say that Domino's got bad advice
from whatever

lawyer has ben advising the company to take this route. 

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