Cotto v. Rad Coffee Company, LLC

Summary

On February 25, 2021, Cesar Cotto filed a Complaint in California State court against Rad Coffee Company LLC. Plaintiff Cesar Cotto alleges that www.rad.coffee is not accessible per the WCAG 2.0, Section 508 accessibility standard(s).

About the defendant

Rad is a coffee roasting company that sources, roasts, bags, and sells ground and whole bean coffee, as well as brewed coffee and specialty drinks at retail coffee shops.

What the complaint says

The problems the plaintiff describes with the website.

• The home page has graphics, links, and buttons that are not labeled or are incorrectly labeled, or lack alternative text (“Alt-text”). Alt-text is invisible code embedded beneath a graphical image on a website. Web accessibility requires that Alt-text be coded with each picture so that screen-reading software can speak the Alt-text where a sighted user sees pictures. Alt-text does not change the visual presentation, but instead a text box shows when the cursor moves over the picture. The lack of Alt-text on these graphics prevents screen-readers from accurately vocalizing a description of the graphics;
• Plaintiff encountered multiple unlabeled or mislabeled buttons and links. Without descriptive alternate text, Plaintiffs, and other screen- reader users, have no clue about the purpose or function of the button or link;
• Plaintiff encountered multiple pages containing insufficient navigational headings requiring Plaintiff to expend substantial additional time to access information; and,
• Plaintiff was unable to browse menu because menu links and descriptions were inaccessible to screen reading technology.

Legal claims

The laws the plaintiff says the defendant broke, called causes of action.

• Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12181 et seq.
• Unruh Civil Rights Act, California Civil Code § 51 et seq.

What the plaintiff asks for

What the plaintiff wants the court to order.

• A Declaratory Judgment that at the commencement of this action Defendant owns, maintains, and/or operates its Website in a manner which discriminates against the blind, fails to provide access to blind or visually-impaired individuals, and that Defendant took no action that was reasonably calculated to ensure that its Website is fully accessible to, and independently usable by blind and visually-impaired individuals in violation of California’s Unruh Act, California Civil Code § 51 , et seq;
• A preliminary and permanent injunction enjoining Defendant from further violations of the UCRA, Civil Code § 51 et seq. with respect to “www.rad.coffee.”
• A preliminary and permanent injunction requiring Defendant to take the steps necessary to make www.rad.coffee readily accessible to and usable by blind and visually- impaired individuals but Plaintiff hereby expressly limits the injunctive relief to require that Defendant expend no more than $50,000 thereon;
• Plaintiff seeks no relief related to any architectural barriers to access in this Complaint and expressly limits all claims to injunctive relief to modifications of Defendant’s policies and procedures related to the Website;
• An award of statutory minimum statutory damages of not less than $4,000 per violation pursuant to § 52(a) of the California Civil Code;
• An additional award of $4,000.00 as deterrence damages for each violation pursuant to Johnson v. Guedoir, 218 F. Supp. 3d 1096; 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 150740 (USDC Cal, E.D. 2016);
• For attorneys’ fees and expenses pursuant to all applicable laws including, without limitation, Civil Code § 52(a);
• For pre-judgment interest to the extent permitted by law;
• For costs of suit; and,
• For such other and further relief as this Court deems just and proper