Cota v. Pandora Jewelry LLC

Summary

On October 2, 2020, Julissa Cota filed a Complaint in California Federal court against Pandora Jewelry LLC. Plaintiff Julissa Cota alleges that www.us.pandora.net is not accessible per the WCAG 2.1 accessibility standard(s).

About the defendant

Pandora Jewelry sells non-precious jewelry, charm bracelets, earrings, and other accessories at retail locations, often in shopping malls, and via its website.

What the complaint says

The problems the plaintiff describes with the website.

• Lack of Alternative Text (“alt-text”), or a text equivalent
• Empty Links that contain No Text causing the function or purpose of the link to not be presented to the user.
• Redundant Links where adjacent links go to the same URL address
• Linked Images missing alt-text, which causes problems if an image within a link does not contain any descriptive text and that image does not have alt-text

Legal claims

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

• Violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. §12181
• Violations of the Unruh Civil Rights Act

What the plaintiff asks for

What the plaintiff wants the court to order.

• For an Order certifying the Nationwide Class and California Class as defined herein and appointing Plaintiff and her Counsel to represent the Nationwide Class and the California Class
• A preliminary and permanent injunction pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 12188(a)(1) and (2) and section 52.1 of the California Civil Code enjoining Defendant from violating the Unruh Civil Rights Act and ADA and requiring Defendant to take the steps necessary to make https://www.soma.com/ readily accessible to and usable by visually impaired individuals
• An award of statutory minimum damages of $4,000 per offense per person pursuant to section 52(a) of the California Civil Code.
• For attorneys’ fees and expenses pursuant to California Civil Code §§ 52(a), 52.1(h), and 42 U.S.C. § 12205
• For pre-judgment interest to the extent permitted by law
• For costs of suit
• For such other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper