Target Lawsuit Settled
The Target Corporation have agreed to a $6 million settlement of the lawsuit filed against them by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) regarding the inaccessibility of Target.com.
The original complaint, filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), cited various problems with Target.com - images that lacked alternative text; missing page headings and site facilities that could not be used by non-sighted keyboard navigators.
As part of the settlement, Target have agreed to:
- Pay the original claimant (blind college student Bruce Sexton) $20,000.
- Establish a $6 million fund for the payment of additional individual claims.
- Ensure that the Target.com website meets a set of agreed assistive technology guidelines and achieves NFB Nonvisual Accessibility Certification.
- Ensure that blind screen-reader users can access the same information and engage in the same transactions as sighted visitors.
- Allow NFB to monitor the site’s compliance for the next 3 years.
Target also agreed to provide at least 1 day’s web accessibility training (to be provided by NFB) for its web developers and a quarterly summary of complaints received about accessibility to the NFB.
Opinions regarding how this settlement will affect any future cases remain deeply divided. Given the size and scope of the settlement, some feel that it has raised the profile of the Americans with Disabilities Act and how it may apply to web sites. There is even some suggestion that news of the settlement could bring about a surge in litigation of this type.
However, before you start wildly cheering, it is worth noting a couple of significant points:
- This settlement does not provide any real clarification as to how the ADA applies to web sites nor does it clearly define the legal obligations of site owners.
- In 2007, Target reported $63 billion in revenue and $3 billion in net income. Although $6 million is probably more than it would have cost the company to rectify their site in the first place, it is not a sum that will cause them to lose much sleep.
- Because the case was brought by NFB, the settlement focuses primarily on the needs of the visually impaired - not all disabled users. Whilst NFB nonvisual accessibility certification will, almost certainly, bring about benefits for other disabled user groups, their specific needs may not receive the same level of attention.
So whilst this settlement is very welcome, it is, by no means, a landslide case law victory. A guarded round of polite applause may be more appropriate. Then sit back and watch what (if anything) happens next.