Paul Tassin  |  April 11, 2017

Category: Consumer News

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

Five Guys class action lawsuitThe Five Guys hamburger chain seeks to evade a disability discrimination class action lawsuit accusing the company of running an inaccessible website.

Attorneys for defendant Five Guys Enterprises LLC filed a motion on April 7 seeking dismissal of an ADA class action lawsuit, in which plaintiff Lucia Marett accuses the company of failing to make its corporate website accessible to visually impaired users.

Marett’s Five Guys class action lawsuit is one among others recently filed that seek to apply the requirements of the ADA to commercial websites. Plaintiffs in these actions seek to compel businesses to make their websites accessible to the blind and visually impaired.

Marett points out several web design features that can make a website more accessible to visually impaired users – design features that Five Guys allegedly fails to implement in its own corporate website.

For example, designing the website to function through the keyboard only, without input from the computer’s mouse, makes using the website possible for persons who can’t readily see the mouse cursor. Website text can also be implemented in a way that integrates well with screen-reading software that can pronounce the text out loud.

Marett, who herself is legally blind, says she tried to use Five Guys’ website to order food for pickup, but she was unable to do so due to its alleged lack of accessibility features.

In the defendant’s motion for dismissal, Five Guys argues that the requirements of the ADA apply only to physical facilities and not to websites.

The statute’s language applies its requirements to a “place” of public accommodation. While the statute does not offer a specific definition of the word “place,” Five Guys argues, the word’s plain meaning clearly refers to a physical location.

“Even if Marett had explicitly alleged that Five Guys’ website is a place of public accommodation, such a contention is nonetheless incorrect, as the ADA governs ‘solely access to physical, concrete places of public accommodation,’” the company claims.

The ADA does provide a list of entities that are considered places of public accommodation. These entities include hotels, restaurants, movie theaters and performance facilities, retail outlets, schools, museums, libraries, and service providers like banks and dry cleaners – all of which are physical facilities, the defendants point out.

The company cites several court of appeals decisions holding that the ADA’s requirements apply only to physical places of public accommodation.

Five Guys also argues that Marett’s claims are moot, since the company is in the process of updating its website for better accessibility. The update was prompted by settlement of a similar ADA lawsuit brought in a Florida federal court.

The company argues this website update will remedy all the inaccessibility issues Marett raises in her own ADA class action lawsuit, leaving her with no standing to bring these claims.

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

The Five Guys Website Accessibility Class Action Lawsuit is Lucia Marett v. Five Guys Enterprises LLC, Case No. 1:17-cv-00788, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

UPDATE: On July 21, 2017,  a federal judge tossed Five Guy’s motion to dismiss. Five Guys attempted to end the class action by arguing that the ADA does not cover websites but in the court order, the judge explained that Five Guy’s website is in fact covered by the ADA.

We tell you about cash you can claim EVERY WEEK! Sign up for our free newsletter.

3 thoughts onFive Guys Seeks Dismissal of Website Accessibility Class Action Lawsuit

  1. Marina says:

    Los batidos son helados y además todos saben a lo mismo, vainilla. En mi caso he pedido un batido de Reese y ni si quiera llevaba el propio chocolate

  2. Top Class Actions says:

    UPDATE: On July 21, 2017,  a federal judge tossed Five Guy’s motion to dismiss. Five Guys attempted to end the class action by arguing that the ADA does not cover websites but in the court order, the judge explained that Five Guy’s website is in fact covered by the ADA.

  3. Bridgette Nevills says:

    I want in please

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. By submitting your comment and contact information, you agree to receive marketing emails from Top Class Actions regarding this and/or similar lawsuits or settlements, and/or to be contacted by an attorney or law firm to discuss the details of your potential case at no charge to you if you qualify. Required fields are marked *

Please note: Top Class Actions is not a settlement administrator or law firm. Top Class Actions is a legal news source that reports on class action lawsuits, class action settlements, drug injury lawsuits and product liability lawsuits. Top Class Actions does not process claims and we cannot advise you on the status of any class action settlement claim. You must contact the settlement administrator or your attorney for any updates regarding your claim status, claim form or questions about when payments are expected to be mailed out.