Target Lawsuit Given Class-Action Status

AP via SFGate ^ | 10/3/7

[SmithL]

New York (AP) -- A federal judge granted class-action status to a lawsuit alleging that Target Corp. is breaking California and federal law by failing to make its Web site usable for the blind.

The plaintiffs fault Target for not adopting technology used by other companies to make Web sites accessible to the blind. The technology allows reading software to vocalize invisible code embedded in computer graphics and describe content on a Web page.

Granting class-action status allows blind people throughout the country who have tried to access Target.com to become plaintiffs in the suit, which alleges violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Judge Marilyn Hall Patel also on Friday approved a separate class, made up of blind California residents who have attempted to use the site, to address the suit's charges that Target is violating state laws governing civil and disabled rights.

[SmithL]

Patel, Marilyn Hall

Born 1938 in Amsterdam, NY

Federal Judicial Service:
Judge, U. S. District Court, Northern District of California
Nominated by Jimmy Carter on May 9, 1980, to a seat vacated by Lloyd Hudson Burke; Confirmed by the Senate on June 26, 1980, and received commission on June 30, 1980. Served as chief judge, 1997-2004.

Education:
Wheaton College, B.A., 1959

Fordham University School of Law, J.D., 1963

Professional Career:
Private practice, New York City, 1963-1967
Attorney, Immigration & Naturalization Service, U.S. Department of Justice, San Francisco, 1967-1971
Private practice, San Francisco, California, 1971-1976
Adjunct professor of law, University of California, San Francisco, Hastings College of Law, 1974-1976
Judge, Municipal Court, Oakland-Piedmont Judicial District, State of California, 1976-1980


Race or Ethnicity: White

Gender: Female

[Always Right]

Just a busload of lawyers going off a cliff would not even be a start.

[kingu]

What a waste of time. If Target doesn’t want your business, go somewhere that does. Or better yet, get together with a developer and make a gateway site that adds the needed code, and take advantage of Target’s marketing programs to pay for these improvements.

[TexasCajun]

"Ahh Now if I could only find that dang computer. "

[Rb ver. 2.0]

“A federal judge granted class-action status to a lawsuit alleging that Target Corp. is breaking California and federal law by failing to make its Web site usable for the blind.”

I spit coffee when I read that. Where are the napkins?

[Maceman]

Sounds like this will result in further discrimination. It’s fine for blind people, but what about people who are both blind AND deaf, and also need access to Target’s site? Don’t they have rights too?

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

How long before Lawyers will demand that cars should be made safe for the blind to drive?

[massgopguy]

The Federal Highway System is unusable for the Blind. But on the serious side, this could be a back door attack on the Internet.

[RC2]

Explain something to me here. Is California saying that ALL websites must accomodate the blind in this fashion? If so, they will put a lot of small companies out of business.

[Rb ver. 2.0]

WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MAKE FR ACCESSIBLE TO THE BLIND?

[SmithL]

Shout louder, yeah, that’s what I do, too.

[shankbear]

Dang. Accomodation has gone a bit far hasn’t it? This is absurd. 99% of all lawyers give the other 1% a bad name.

[FoxInSocks]

"This is a tremendous step forward for blind people throughout the country who for too long have been denied equal access to the Internet economy," said Dr. Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind. "All e-commerce businesses should take note of this decision and immediately take steps to open their doors to the blind."

Take note because actual accessibility is not the issue -- extortion is.

Judge Patel's order Friday noted that Target has modified its Web site some since the suit's filing to make the site more accessible to the blind. Target claimed the suit should therefore be dismissed, but Judge Patel ruled against that argument.

That's great. Don't even give the company an opportunity to fix the web site before you sic the attorneys on them.

This is a racket that was used against a number of brick-and-mortar businesses throughout California in the past, including one owned by Clint Eastwood.

[gridlock]

The only thing the blind are missing is the FReepathon logos. Somehow they’ll muddle through...

[wolfcreek]

If you made FR accessable to the blind, they would go deaf.

[edcoil]

All HTML sites are readable by the blind by readers the blind have, like the deaf by special phones.

I am surprised Target’s site is not HTML, I would guess it was however some parts are not.

It seems to be a trivial change for Target to go HTML so this seems like a waste of time.

[Sue Perkick]

You know it seems to me that at some point in all our lives we’ve encountered a situation where we just had to acknowledge that we were simply SOL.

But maybe it’s just me.

[fatnotlazy]

What do these folks want? A website in Braille?

I have trouble reading very fine print on some websites. I either enlarge the text or fix the resolution. Not that hard to do.

[gridlock]

Just a busload of lawyers going off a cliff would not even be a start.

Get rid of everybody's lawyer but mine.