Tatum-rios v. Hastens Beds, Inc.

Summary

On August 23, 2019, Lynette Tatum-Rios filed a Complaint in New York Federal court against Hastens Beds, Inc.. Plaintiff Lynette Tatum-Rios alleges that www.hastens.com is not accessible per the WCAG 2.0 accessibility standard(s).

About the defendant

Hastens Beds, Inc. is a family-owned manufacturer of beds, frames, and mattresses.

What the complaint says

The problems the plaintiff describes with the website.

• Lack of alt-text for images.
• Document titles are blank.
• Link use general text like “Read More” with no surrounding textexplaining the link’s purpose.
• Frames do not have a title.
• PDFs are not properly tagged and therefore are inaccessible toscreen readers.
• Webpages have duplicate IDs which can cause problems in screen readers.
• Form field labels are not unique on a page or enclosed in a fieldset that makes the label unique.
• Webpages have no headings, headings are not nested correctly, and approximately twenty (20) headings are empty.
• Several links on a page share the same link text, but go to different destinations.
• Webpages have markup errors.

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.
• New York State Human Rights Law
• New York City Human Rights Law
• Declaratory Relief

What the plaintiff asks for

What the plaintiff wants the court to order.

• A preliminary and permanent injunction to prohibit Defendantfrom violating Title III of the ADA, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12182, et seq., N.Y. Exec. Law § 296, et seq., N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 8-107, et seq., and the laws of New York;
• A preliminary and permanent injunction requiring Defendant to take all the steps necessary to make its Website into full compliance with the requirements set forth in Title III of the ADA, and its implementing regulations, so that the Website is readily accessible to and usable by blind individuals;
• A declaration that Defendant owns, maintains and/or operates the Website in a manner that discriminates against the blind and which fails to provide access for persons with disabilities as required by ADA, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12182, et seq., N.Y. Exec. Law § 296, et seq., N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 8-107, et seq., and the laws of New York
• An order certifying the Class and Subclasses under Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a) & (b)(2) and/or (b)(3), appointing Plaintiff as Class Representative, and her attorneys as Class Counsel;
• Compensatory damages in an amount to be determined by proof, including all applicable statutory damages, punitive damages and fines;
• Pre- and post-judgment interest;
• An award of costs and expenses of this action together withreasonable attorneys’ and expert fees; and
• Such other and further relief as this Court deems just and proper.