Plaintiff
- Name: Abelardo Martinez, Jr.
- Filing date: August 8, 2020
- State of filing: California
Defendant
- Name: Ask Media Group, LLC
- Website: www.smarter.com
- Industry: Internet Software and Services
- Summary: Ask Media Group owns and operates the website smarter.com offering human interest stories, soft news, and entertainment.
Case Summary
On August 8, 2020, Abelardo Martinez, Jr. filed a Complaint in California State court against Ask Media Group, LLC. Plaintiff Abelardo Martinez, Jr. alleges that www.smarter.com is not accessible per the WCAG 2.0 accessibility standard(s).
Case Details
Plaintiff alleges issues in its Complaint including the following:
- Empty or missing form labels which presents a problem because, if a form control does not have a properly associated text label, the function or purpose of that form control may not be presented to screen reader users. Form labels provide visible descriptions and larger clickable targets for form controls;
- Empty links which present a problem because a link contains no text. If a link contains no text, the function or purpose of the link will not be presented to the user. This can introduce confusion for keyboard and screen reader users;
- Empty buttons, which present a problem because 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 - Redundant Links where adjacent links go to the same URL address which results in additional navigation and repetition for keyboard and screen reader users
Plaintiff asserts the following cause(s) of action in its Complaint:
Violations of the Unruh Civil Rights Act, California Civil Code § 51 et seq.
Plaintiff seeks the following relief by way of its Complaint:
- For a judgment that Defendant violated Plaintiffs’ 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 Websites, https://www.perrigo.com/ and www.clindesse.com, readily accessible to and usable by visually-impaired individuals; but Plaintiffs hereby expressly limit 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, Plaintiffs expressly limit 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, Plaintiffs expressly limit 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
- For costs of suit
- For such other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper