Figueroa v. Vitacost.com, Inc.

Summary

On April 11, 2019, Jose Figueroa filed a Complaint in New York Federal court against Vitacost.com, Inc. Plaintiff Jose Figueroa alleges that www.vitacost.com is not accessible.

About the defendant

Vitacost.com, Inc produces and sells vitamins, dietary supplements, and personal care products via its website.

What the complaint says

The problems the plaintiff describes with the website.

• Plaintiff was denied a shopping experience similar to that of a sighted individual due to the website’s lack of a variety of features and accommodations, which effectively barred Plaintiff from being able to determine what specific supplements were offered for sale, browse the site in general, or make a purchase. Defendant’s Website lacks prompting information necessary to allow Plaintiff to locate and narrow down a specific field of desired products and price range. This omission was exacerbated by the lack of alt. text, which is the invisible code embedded beneath a graphical image on a website. Such lack of alt text prevented Plaintiff from being able to find and purchase the supplements such as amino acids that he was interested in purchasing, due to a failure of effective communication between his screen reader and Defendant’s Website. The Website also contains a host of broken links, which prevented Plaintiff from effectively browsing the supplements that he was interested in purchasing. In addition, the Website requires the use of a mouse to effectively browse and make a purchase. Yet Plaintiff cannot use a mouse because manipulating the mouse is a visual activity of moving the mouse pointer from one visual spot to another. Finally, Plaintiff was not able to determine whether a Live Chat was available or whether a phone number was posted, and if so, whether it was a 24/7 help line, as Plaintiff conducts much of his online shopping during the late evening hours.

Legal claims

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

• Violations of the ADA, 42 U.S.C. § 12181 et seq.
• Violations of the NYSHRL
• Violation of the New York State Civil Rights Law
• Violations of the NYCHRL
• Declaratory Relief

What the plaintiff asks for

What the plaintiff wants the court to order.

• Website, www.vitacost.com, lacks prompting information necessary to allow Plaintiff to locate and narrow down a specific field of desired products and price range.
• Website also contains a host of broken links, which prevented Plaintiff from effectively browsing the supplements that he was interested in purchasing.