Panera Class Action: Restaurant Discriminates Against the Blind

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Panera LLC has been hit with a class action lawsuit accusing the restaurant chain of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by implementing an in-store ordering system that fails to accommodate blind and visually-impaired customers.

Plaintiffs Andres Gomez and Juan Carlos Gil, both of whom are reportedly legally blind, assert that Panera’s implementation of the $42 million “Panera 2.0” in-store ordering system prevents visually-impaired consumers from being able to independently order and pick up their food.

Their Panera Bread class action lawsuit asserts that Panera’s cafés and bakeries are places of public accommodation which are covered by the ADA.

According to the Panera ADA class action lawsuit, the Panera 2.0 system requires customers to use an iPad kiosk to select the foods and beverages they wish to purchase. The iPad screen allegedly lacks a tactile keyboard or other features that would allow visually-impaired customers to order independently. Gomez and Gil assert that this failure to provide features that are accessible to the blind “amounts to extreme insensitivity” and disregards the rights of consumers who are visually impaired.

Once an order is ready, it is placed on a labeled shelf called the Fast Lane Pick Up section, which the plaintiffs allege is not equipped with features that allow millions of visually-impaired Americans to order and pick up their food without the assistance of others.

“Defendant Panera has failed to reasonably accommodate the visually impaired and disabled by modifying its Fast Lane Pick Up section to include: 1) a blind interface system which employs an audio interface system, braille on the pick-up shelves, or 2) other auxiliary aids for the visually impaired,” according to the Panera class action lawsuit. This failure constitutes a violation of the ADA, the plaintiffs assert.

Gomez and Gil also claim that they attempted to access the Panera website, but were unable to do so because the website “does not provide screen reader software or other means to accommodate the visually impaired, nor does it interface with screen reader software in order that visually impaired individuals can comprehend the website,” the Panera ADA class action lawsuit alleges.

Gomez and Gil say they filed the Panera class action lawsuit “to stop the marginalization of blind, vision impaired, and low vision patrons of the Panera Bakeries throughout the United States of America where the law of the Americans with Disabilities Act has been the law of the land for over twenty-five years.”

By filing the ADA class action lawsuit, Gomez and Gil want the court to require Panera to update its Panera 2.0 system and its website with features and/or assistive devices to accommodate blind and visually-impaired customers. They are also seeking attorneys’ fees, compensatory damages, costs and other expenses of the class action lawsuit, and any other relief deemed appropriate by the court.

The plaintiffs are represented by Scott R. Dinin.

The Panera ADA Class Action Lawsuit is Gomez, et al. v. Panera LLC, Case No. 1:16-cv-21421, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Miami Division.