Tatum-rios v. Kenny Flowers LLC

Summary

On August 27, 2020, Lynnette Tatum-Rios filed a Complaint in New York Federal court against Kenny Flowers, LLC. Plaintiff Lynnette Tatum-Rios alleges that www.kennyflowers.com is not accessible per the WCAG 2.1 accessibility standard(s).

About the defendant

Kenny Flowers manufactures and sells casual apparel, swimwear, and accessories for men and women.

What the complaint says

The problems the plaintiff describes with the website.

• Lack of alt-text for images.
• Fieldset elements do not have legend elements.
• Documents do not have a title.
• Webpages have duplicate IDs which cause problems in screen readers.
• Form controls have no labels.
• Tables are not properly labeled with row and column headers,
• Button elements are empty and have no programmatically determined name.
• Links use general text like “more” with no surrounding text explaining the link purpose.
• Some pages use the same title so the title cannot be used to distinguish pages.
• Approximately ten (10) headings are empty.

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 Defendant from 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;