Rendon v. Harlequin Enterprises Limited

Summary

On February 13, 2020, Rusty Rendon filed a Complaint in California State court against Harlequin Enterprises Limited. Plaintiff Rusty Rendon alleges that www.harlequin.com is not accessible per the WCAG 2.0 accessibility standard(s).

About the defendant

Harlequin Enterprises Limited is a publishing company, publishing thousands of romantic titles from authors including Robyn Carr, Brenda Novak, and Lori Foster.

What the complaint says

The problems the plaintiff describes with the website.

• Missing alternative text which presents a problem because an image without alternative text results in an empty link. Alternative Text is invisible code embedded beneath a graphical image on a website. Web accessibility requires that Alternative Text be coded with each picture so that a screen reader can speak the Alternative Text where a sighted user sees pictures. Alternative Text does not change the visual presentation, but instead generates a text box that will pop-up when the mouse moves over the picture. The lack of Alternative Text on these graphics prevents screen readers from accurately vocalizing a description of the graphics;
• Empty buttons, which means that a button is empty or has no value text. When navigating to a button, descriptive text must be presented to screen reader users to indicate the function of the button; and
• Broken ARIA menu, which means that an ARIA menu does not contain required menu items. ARIA menus are application menus (like those used in software menu) with a specific keyboard interactions. They are NOT for navigation links on a web site and must contain at least one menuitem, menuitemcheckbox, or menuitemradio element.

Legal claims

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

• Unruh Civil Rights Act, California Civil Code § 51 et seq.

What the plaintiff asks for

What the plaintiff wants the court to order.

• For a judgment that Defendant violated Plaintiff’s rights under the Unruh Civil Rights Act, California Civil Code § 51 et seq.;
• For a preliminary and permanent injunction requiring Defendant to take the steps necessary to make the Website, https://www.harlequin.com, readily accessible to and usable by visually-impaired individuals; but Plaintiff hereby expressly limits the injunctive relief to require that Defendant expend no more $20,000 as the cost of injunctive relief;
• An award of statutory minimum damages of $4,000 per violation pursuant to section 52(a) of the California Civil Code; however, Plaintiff expressly limits the total amount of recovery, including statutory damages, attorneys’ fees and costs, and cost of injunctive relief not to exceed $74,999;
• For attorneys’ fees and expenses pursuant to all applicable laws including, without limitation, California Civil Code § 52(a); however, Plaintiff expressly limits the total amount of recovery, including statutory damages, attorneys’ fees and costs, and cost of injunctive relief not to exceed $74,999;
• For pre-judgment interest to the extent permitted by law;