Plaintiff
- Name: Steven Matzura
- Filing date: March 29, 2021
- State of filing: New York
Defendant
- Name: Louisiana College
- Website: www.lacollege.edu
- Industry: Educational
- Summary: Louisiana College is a private Baptist college in Pineville, Louisiana with undergraduate and graduate degree and certification programs.
Case Summary
On March 29, 2021, Steven Matzura filed a Complaint in New York Federal court against Louisiana College. Plaintiff Steven Matzura alleges that www.lacollege.edu is not accessible per the WCAG 2.0 accessibility standard(s).
Case Details
Plaintiff alleges issues in its Complaint including the following:
- Lack of Alternative Text (“alt-text”), or a text equivalent.
- Empty Links That Contain No Text causing the function or purpose of the link to not be presented to the user.
- Redundant Links where adjacent links go to the same URL address
- Linked Images Missing Alt-text
- Many pages on the Website also contain the same title elements. This is a problem for the visually-impaired because the screen reader fails to distinguish
one page from another. In order to fix this problem, Defendant must change the title
elements for each page. - The Website also contained a host of broken links, which is a
hyperlink to a non-existent or empty webpage. For the visually-impaired this is especially paralyzing due to the inability to navigate or otherwise determine where one is on the website once a broken link is encountered. For example, upon coming across a link of interest, Plaintiff was redirected to an error page. However, the screen-reader failed to communicate that the link was broken. As a result, Plaintiff
could not get back to his original search.
Plaintiff asserts the following cause(s) of action in its Complaint:
- VIOLATIONS OF THE ADA, 42 U.S.C. § 12181 et seq.
- VIOLATIONS OF THE NYSHRL
- VIOLATIONS OF THE NYCHRL
- DECLARATORY RELIEF
Plaintiff seeks the following relief by way of its Complaint:
- A preliminary and permanent injunction to prohibit Defendant from 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
- Such other and further relief as this Court deems just and proper.