Bizjournals.com Class Action: Lack of Closed Captioning Violates ADA

A New York man says the videos on Bizjournals.com must be offered with closed captioning to comply with state and federal disability law.

Plaintiff Phillip Sullivan Jr. says the website Bizjournals.com, run by defendant New York Business Journal, fails to offer closed captions for its video content.

Sullivan argues that the lack of captions prevents deaf and hard of hearing website visitors from full use and enjoyment of the website’s content, creating a violation of New York civil rights law and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA.

Closed captioning offers video viewers the option of reading a printed transcription of the spoken dialogue in the video content. Sullivan says closed captioning is optional, according to the viewer’s choice – as opposed to open captioning or subtitles, which are a native part of the video content.

Websites like YouTube and Netflix deliver video content with a closed caption option all the time, Sullivan says. But despite the ready availability of closed caption technology, Sullivan says Bizjournals.com fails to offer closed captioning with its video content.

The lack of captions is an access barrier that “make[s] it impossible for deaf and hard of hearing users to comprehend the audio portion of videos that are posted on Bizjournals.com,” Sullivan alleges. Even if a hearing-impaired user can get help from a friend or family member to understand the audio content, that person is still denied the independence that they are entitled to under federal and state disability law, Sullivan claims.

Sullivan is himself one of 36 million U.S. persons who are deaf or hard of hearing, according to his Bizjournals class action lawsuit. These hearing-impaired persons are vulnerable to being excluded from meaningful use and enjoyment of video content when it does not include captions, just as buildings without ramps exclude persons who must use wheelchairs, Sullivan says.

He argues that websites like Bizjournals.com are “place[s] of public accommodation” for ADA purposes just as much as brick-and-mortar establishments are. Therefore, Sullivan claims, these websites are subject to the ADA’s requirement to provide full and equal enjoyment of their goods, services, facilities and priviliges.

Sullivan says that in April of this year, he attempted to watch videos on Bizjournals.com. But due to the lack of closed captioning, he claims, he could not apprehend the audio portion of the video content.

Sullivan proposes to represent a nationwide plaintiff Class that would include all persons in the U.S. who are deaf or hard of hearing and who, during the relevant statutory limitations period, were denied access to the “enjoyment of goods and services offered by Bizjournals.com” despite having attempted to access the website.

He is asking for a court injunction requiring New York Business Journal to make Bizjournals.com fully accessible to hearing-impaired persons and fully compliant with the ADA. He also seeks an award of compensatory and statutory damages, and reimbursement of court costs and attorneys’ fees.

Sullivan is represented by attorneys C.K. Lee and Anne Selig of Lee Litigation Group PLLC.

The Bizjournals.com Hearing Impaired Accessibility Class Action Lawsuit is Phillip Sullivan Jr. v. American City Business Journals Inc., Case No. 1:17-cv-03316, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.