[nfbmi-talk] plaintiff alledges ada violations

[Terry D. Eagle]

While two decades after implementation of the ADA, this is a sad condition
and totally disgusting, how can we as blind expect any enforcement of the
ADA, when govwenmental entities, especially programs serving blind persons,
such as BEP Randolph-Sheppard programs, are unwilling and flat out refuse to
comply with ADA, and provide blind licensees and their blind employees with
accessible point-of-sales equipment?  Michigan BADP and BEP are prime
examples of such non-compliance with the ADA.  I can only conclude use of
rehabilitation funds for ineligible sighted persons employment, and jobs for
agency staff family members, friends, lovers and lovers of lovers is more
important and priority.

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbmi-talk [mailto:nfbmi-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of joe
harcz Comcast via nfbmi-talk
Sent: Friday, October 03, 2014 10:35 AM
To: nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nfbmi-talk] plaintiff alledges ada violations

Plaintiff Alleges ADA Violations by Banks, Retailers

Plaintiff Alleges ADA Violations by Banks, Retailers Photo:
IlliniGradResearch via Wikimedia Commons

 

The proposed class action Robert Jahoda recently filed against Redbox
Automated Retail LLC is the 13th such suit alleging violations of the
Americans with

Disabilities Act the legally blind Pennsylvanian has brought this year, and
the 61st since 2012, according to filings in U.S. District Court for the
Western

District of Pennsylvania.

 

In

Jahoda v. Redbox ,

as in the others, plaintiff Jahoda's focus is on making banks and retailers
in the Pittsburgh area provide point-of-sale devices and ATMs that are
accessible

to the visually impaired, protective of the blind users' privacy, and
otherwise compliant with Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Guiding

Jahoda's campaign is attorney R. Bruce Carlson and other lawyers at the
Pittsburgh firm, Carlson Lynch.

 

Filed on Sept. 17, Jahoda's lawsuit argues that Redbox kiosks fail to
accommodate potential customers with no or limited eyesight who want to rent
videos

but cannot independently register, browse movies and kiosk locations or
reserve movies for pick-up without having to publicly divulge their movie
choices

or ask someone else to key in a PIN.

 

Redbox agreed to a $1.2 million settlement in a similar California federal
class action, Lighthouse for the Blind v. Redbox, on June 26 in that state's

Central District. Redbox agreed to modify its 4,000 California kiosks to
provide tactile keyboards, headphone jacks and "text-to-speech" technology
that

will read aloud the directions for choosing and renting videos.

 

For Jahoda, the Redbox filing follows 12 lawsuits this year targeting
clothing, cookware and jewelry retailers including J. Crew Group Inc.,
Express Inc.,

The Zale Corp., Williams-Sonoma Inc., and L Brands Inc., parent company to
Victoria's Secret. At issue are the flat-screen checkout devices that
register

purchases with the swipe of debit and credit cards but provide no tactile or
audible clues that would allow people with impaired vision to complete a
purchase

without revealing a PIN or relying on a stranger's help.

 

In this year's lawsuits, like those that came before, Zahoda primarily seeks
declaratory and injunctive relief, along with attorneys' fees and costs and

any unspecified relief the court sees fit to grant. Most of the cases have
settled or were voluntarily dismissed, without elaboration.

 

Jahoda's and Carlson's blitz began just days after the passing of a March
15, 2012, deadline for making architectural and other modifications mandated
by

the ADA, when they filed the first of what would be 35 putative class
actions against banks and other financial institutions with ATMs that
allegedly were

not independently accessible to the blind.

 

More recently, Carlson has been counsel to plaintiffs who have filed a
series of proposed class actions against Starbucks Corp., CVS Caremark
Corp., Wendy's

Old Fashioned Hamburgers and several Pittsburgh-area malls for alleged
violations of the ADA's Title III because their parking areas or curb ramps
have

slopes too steep to be easily and safely traversed by people in wheelchairs.

 

Source:

http://www.law.com/sites/articles/2014/10/01/plaintiff-alleges-ada-violation
s-by-banks-retailers/?slreturn=20140903103012
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