On December 28, 2021, the Eleventh Circuit vacated its opinion in Gil v. Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., a web accessibility case that held that websites were not places of public accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) ( (11th Cir. Dec. 28, 2021)). The result occurred after the plaintiff filed a petition for rehearing following the reversal of the district court's opinion that had been in their favor. The Eleventh Circuit instead found the case moot due to the expiration of an injunction before the Circuit's original decision. The Eleventh Circuit then vacated its original opinion and judgment and remanded the case for the district court to enter an order dismissing it as moot.

In vacating its decision the Eleventh Circuit returned to a state of uncertainty regarding the ADA's application to websites and whether websites qualify as places of public accommodation under the ADA.

The Eleventh Circuit's original opinion in Gil v. Winn-Dixie overturned a landmark Florida district court opinion, and the first-ever website accessibility trial, that found that a regional supermarket's website was a place of public accommodation because it was heavily integrated with its physical stores (see Legal Update, Southern District of Florida Holds Winn-Dixie's Website is Subject to the ADA).

The Eleventh Circuit reversed the lower court decision and found that:

(Gil, 993 F.3d at 1278).)

For more information on the Eleventh Circuit's original decision, see Legal Update, Eleventh Circuit Reverses Lower Court Decision and Rules that Websites Are Not Places of Public Accommodation).

Gil, the plaintiff, petitioned for a rehearing en banc. One of several arguments the plaintiff made was that the case was moot because the district court's original injunction had expired in 2020, prior to the Eleventh Circuit's first decision in April 2021. Instead of granting the petition for rehearing en banc, the Eleventh Circuit vacated its original opinion, holding that the parties' dispute became moot when the injunction issued by the district court expired. The Eleventh Circuit therefore vacated its original opinion and judgment and remanded the case for the district court to enter an order dismissing it as moot.

In vacating its original opinion the court returned the Eleventh Circuit to a state of uncertainty regarding whether websites qualify as places of public accommodation. Several federal courts of appeal have split on the question whether a "public accommodation" extends beyond a physical place (see Practice Note, Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): Website Compliance: Circuit Court Split). Given the Eleventh Circuit's original Gil decision, it appears the court is likely to exclude websites from being covered under the ADA as public accommodations, but this outcome is not certain, as the original decision included a strong dissent.