On July 31, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (Eleventh Circuit) held in Dennis Haynes v. Dunkin' Donuts LLC that Dunkin' Donuts violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (42 U.S.C. §12188) because its website "facilitates the use of Dunkin' Donuts shops, which are places of public accommodation," but was not accessible to the blind ().

Dennis Haynes, who is blind, sued Dunkin' Donuts for violating Title III of the ADA because its website was not compatible with screen reading software for the blind. Haynes sought declaratory and injunctive relief under the ADA, as well as attorney's fees.

The district court dismissed Haynes' complaint for not stating a plausible claim for relief under Title III of the ADA, stating that the plaintiff failed to allege a connection between the barriers he faced when accessing the Dunkin' Donuts website and his inability to access Dunkin' Donuts products and services at its stores. Haynes appealed to the Eleventh Circuit.

Haynes argued that the Dunkin' Donuts website should be accessible to the blind under the ADA because:

Dunkin' Donuts argued that Haynes failed to state a claim because:

The Eleventh Circuit held in favor of Haynes.

The court stated that the ADA prohibits discrimination against the disabled by preventing their full enjoyment of goods, services, facilities, privileges, or accommodations at places of public accommodation. In addition, the prohibition under the ADA includes tangible and intangible barriers that disabled people face. Here, the website facilitates the use of Dunkin' Donuts stores, which are places of public accommodation. Moreover, the website denies Haynes access to the services of the Dunkin' Donuts stores that are available on the Dunkin' Donuts website, which includes information about the stores' products, store location information, and the ability to purchase gift cards online. Failure to make those services available to the blind violates the ADA.

The court reversed the district court's dismissal and remanded for further proceedings.

This decision expands the reach of the ADA to websites that primarily provide information about a business' physical location and the goods and services sold at a business' physical location. This decision may open the door to an increasing number of lawsuits over website accessibility under the ADA against businesses that are defined as places of public accommodation. Businesses should review their websites to ensure they comply with the ADA.

For more information about website compliance under the ADA, see Legal Update, Is Your Website ADA Compliant? and Practice Note, Avoiding Pitfalls in Online Sales to Consumers: Americans with Disabilities Act