Olsen v. Dineinfresh Inc.

Summary

On June 19, 2019, Thomas J. Olsen filed a Complaint in New York Federal court against Dineinfresh Inc.. Plaintiff Thomas J. Olsen alleges that www.plated.com is not accessible per the WCAG 2.0 accessibility standard(s).

About the defendant

Dineinfresh Inc. owns and operates the website www.plated.com, previously a subscription meal delivery service, now selling Plated meal kits in retail grocery stores.

What the complaint says

The problems the plaintiff describes with the website.

• Lack of alt-text for images.
• Links use general text like “here” with no surrounding text explaining the link purpose.
• Frames do not have a title.
• Button elements are empty.
• Forms have fields without label elements or title attributes.
• Webpages have duplicate IDs which cause problems in screen readers.
• Webpages have markup errors.
• Radio buttons are not contained in a fieldset element
• Form field labels are not unique on a page or enclosed in a fieldsetwith a legend that makes the label unique.
• Approximately twenty (20) headings are empty and headings are notnested correctly.
• Several links on a page share the same link text but go to differentdestinations.

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 the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12182, et seq., N.Y. Exec. Law § 296, et seq., N.Y.C. Administrative 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 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 its Website in a manner that discriminates against the blind and which fails to provide access for persons with disabilities as required by Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12182, et seq., N.Y. Exec. Law § 296, et seq., N.Y.C. Administrative Code § 8-107, et seq., and the laws of New York;
• An order certifying the Class and Sub-Classes under Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a) & (b)(2) and/or (b)(3), appointing Plaintiff as Class Representative, and his attorneys as Class Counsel;
• Compensatory damages in an amount to be determined by proof, including all applicable statutory and punitive damages and fines, to Plaintiff and the proposed class and subclasses for violations of their civil rights under New York State Human Rights Law and City Law;
• Pre- and post-judgment interest;
• An award of costs and expenses of the action together with reasonable attorneys’ and expert fees; and
• Such other and further relief as this Court deems just and proper