Red Lobster Class Action Says Website Discriminates Against the Blind

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A legally blind woman claims in a proposed class action lawsuit that Red Lobster’s website does not accommodate blind and visually impaired users.

Plaintiff Lucia Marett filed her discrimination lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act Monday in New York federal court.

Marett claims that she browsed and intended to purchase a $100 gift card on RedLobster.com, but was unable to allegedly due to the site’s many access barriers, which prevented her to independently navigate and complete her purchase using assistive computer technology.

“The access barriers make it impossible for blind users to even complete a transaction on the website,” the complaint states. “Red Lobster thus excludes the blind from the full and equal participation in the growing Internet economy that is increasingly a fundamental part of the common marketplace and daily living.”

The Red Lobster disability access lawsuit further alleges that the seafood-based restaurant chain knowingly discriminates against the blind by choosing to maintain a website with an exclusively visual interface, including pop-up forms that are inaccessible to blind people.

By failing to make the website accessible to blind persons, Red Lobster is violating basic equal access requirements under both state and federal law, the class action lawsuit states.

Screen-reader technology provides the primary method by which a blind person may independently use the Internet.

Unless Red Lobster’s website is designed to be read by screen-reader software or other assistive technologies, blind individuals are unable to fully access websites and the information, products and services available through the site, Marett’s complaint alleges.

“Despite readily available technology…[Red Lobster] has chosen to rely on an exclusively visual interface. Red Lobster’s sighted customers can independently browse, select, and buy gift cards online without the assistance of others. However, blind people must rely on sighted companions to assist them in accessing and purchasing on Redlobster.com,” the lawsuit claims.

The ADA states that the court can step in “to alter facilities to make such facilities readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities.” The act also authorizes judicially-mandated changes to an organization’s policies.

Marett has asked for a court order that would require Red Lobster to take all necessary steps to format its website to be compatible with the screen-reader, or text-to-audio, technology utilized by Web users with vision problems.

She seeks to represent a nationwide Class of legally blind individuals who have attempted to access RedLobster.com and as a result have been denied access to Red Lobster services and goods, along with a subclass in New York. The putative class action lawsuit also requests monetary damages.

Marett filed similar website disability access lawsuits against Rosewood Hotels and Resorts LLC and Madame Tussauds New York LLC earlier this month, alleging those businesses also violate the Americans with Disabilities Act by operating websites with access barriers.

Marett is represented by C.K. Lee and Anne Seelig of Lee Litigation Group PLLC.

The Red Lobster Website Disability Access Class Action Lawsuit is Marett v. Red Lobster Hospitality LLC, Case No. 1:16-cv-09052, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.