Burger King Class Action Says Fast Food Chain’s Website Violates ADA

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Burger King Corp. has been hit with a class action lawsuit filed by a visually-impaired woman who claims the fast food restaurant’s website is not fully accessible and independently usable by the plaintiff and other visually-impaired individuals.

“The defendant’s denial of full and equal access to its website, and therefore denial of its Products and services offered thereby and in conjunction with its physical locations, is a violation of the plaintiff’s rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA),” plaintiff Maria Mendizabal says in the Burger King class action lawsuit.

Mendizabal notes that the internet is an important source of information and a useful tool for business, shopping, learning, banking and many other everyday activities.

Visually-impaired and blind consumers are able to independently enjoy access to websites by using screen reading software that either vocalizes the website content or displays it on a refreshable Braille display.

“Screen-reading software is currently the only method a blind or visually-impaired person may independently access the internet,” the Burger King class action lawsuit says. “Unless websites are designed to be read by screen-reading software, blind and visually-impaired persons are unable to fully access websites, and the information, Products, and services contained thereon.”

For a website to be accessible to a visually-impaired person using screen-reading software, the information must be capable of being rendered into text. Mendizabal says that Burger King’s website fails to follow international website standards that most large business entities follow to ensure their websites are accessible to visually-impaired consumers.

Mendizabal says she has visited Burger King’s website on multiple occasions, most recently in December 2017. Each time she visited the site, she says she “encountered multiple access barriers” that denied her full and equal access to the information, goods and services made available to the public.

According to the Burger King class action lawsuit, she was unable to use the company’s website to learn more information about restaurant locations, hours, products available for purchase, special pricing offers, promotional coupons and privacy policies.

The Burger King class action lawsuit points to four specific accessibility barriers she faced when visiting the website, including: lack of alternative text or a text equivalent imbedded beneath graphical images; empty links that cause confusion for users of screen-reading software; redundant links that cause additional navigation and repetition for users of screen-reading software; and linked images without alt-text to inform the user about the function of the link.

Mendizabal filed the Burger King class action lawsuit on behalf of herself and a proposed nationwide Class of legally blind individuals in the United States who have attempted to use Burger King’s website and were “denied access to the equal enjoyment of goods and services offered in the defendant’s physical locations, during the relevant statutory period.” She also seeks to certify a New York subclass.

The Burger King ADA class action lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction to change Burger King’s corporate policies, practices and procedures so that its website becomes and remains accessible to blind and visually-impaired consumers.

Mendizabal is represented by Joseph H. Mizrahi of Joseph H. Mizrahi Law PC, and Jefferey M. Gottlieb and Dana L. Gottlieb of Gottlieb & Associates.

The Burger King ADA Class Action Lawsuit is Maria Mendizabal v. Burger King Corp., Case No. 1:18-cv-00324, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.