Overlawyered » web accessibility

A roadblock to e-readers in schools?

Walter Olson — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:02:22 +0000

Assisted by a foundation, Baltimore has proposed putting Nook e-reader devices in some school libraries, but a complaint from the National Federation of the Blind says that would violate Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). [Business Wire]

Tags: Baltimore, disability & schools, web accessibility

Judge declines to dismiss ADA suit over streaming Netflix

Walter Olson — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:07:18 +0000

A Massachusetts federal judge has declined to throw out an ADA suit against Netflix demanding captioning of its streaming movie service, but “stayed the case pending rulemaking by the Federal Communications Commission.” [Qualters, NLJ] Relatedly, Arizona’s largest movie chain will install closed captioning and headset systems in all its outlets following an adverse ruling by the Ninth Circuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). [East Valley Tribune, earlier] Meanwhile, following an audit negotiated in a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, “The city of Tucson may have to find an estimated $17 million to bring many of its facilities into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.” [Star]

Tags: Arizona, disabled rights, movies film and videos, web accessibility

“What Online Businesses Need to Know About the ADA”

Walter Olson — Mon, 09 May 2011 15:33:45 +0000

Dangerous, far-reaching web-accessibility proposals haven’t gone away. [Kelly L. Frey Sr. and Shameak Belvitt, Law.com]

Tags: web accessibility

March 29 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:18:50 +0000

“Teen beauty queen portrayed as spoiled brat on ‘Wife Swap’ files $100M lawsuit” [NY Daily News]
“Viva el cupcake!” NYC parents and kids protest the Bloomberg administration’s anti-bake-sale rules [Philissa Cramer, GothamSchools] Bill in Congress would thrust federal government much more deeply into school food issues [Al Tompkins, Poynter]
For improved disabled access to online resources, look to technical advance, not regulation [Szoka, City Journal]
“Ministry of Justice Rolls Out New Measures to Reform U.K. Libel Law” [Legal Week/Law.com] “Success Fees in U.K. Libel Cases to Be Slashed by 90 Percent” [same]
“They’re overlawyered. They’re poisoned by lawyers.” (Markopolos critique of SEC, cont’d) [Gordon Smith, Conglomerate]
A sentiment open to doubt: Prof. Freedman contends that lawyers’ ethics are higher than doctors’ [Legal Ethics Forum]
Quotas for women executives in boardroom and top corporate posts spread in Europe. Maybe someday here too? [NYT "Room for Debate"]
Yes to better indigent criminal defense, no to a court order taking over the subject [Greenfield]

Tags: broadcasters, ethics, NYC, obesity, racial quotas, schools, web accessibility

Update: judge dismisses vision-impaired gamer’s suit against Sony

Walter Olson — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:22:54 +0000

A California federal judge has dismissed Alexander Stern’s case against the Japanese entertainment company, ruling that online multiplayer games such as EverQuest, unlike bricks-and-mortar establishments, are not “places of public accommodation” under the Americans with Disabilities Act [OnPoint News, opinion in PDF courtesy OnPoint, earlier here and here] (& Darleen Click, Protein Wisdom)

Tags: disabled rights, videogames, web accessibility

Update: Kindle not helpful enough to blind users

Walter Olson — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 05:03:28 +0000

“Two organizations representing the blind have settled a discrimination lawsuit against Arizona State University over its use of Amazon’s Kindle e-reader device. … The university, which denies the pilot program violates any law, agreed that if it does decide to use e-book readers in future classes over the next two years, ‘it will strive to use devices that are accessible to the blind,’ according to their joint statement.” [AP/ABC News; earlier] Related: Berin Szoka, “An Internet for everyone” [L.A. Times/City Journal]

Tags: Arizona, colleges and universities, disability & schools, disabled rights, publishers, web accessibility

January 18 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:51:53 +0000

Already-infamous Coakley-for-Senate rape-ad mailer: did they really line up all those photo permissions? [Lopez, NRO] Earlier on photo-permissions legal exposures here, here, here, here, here, here, here, etc.
“Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Peyton Thomas: Blame the Libertarians!” [Balko, earlier]
Georgetown lawprof Robin West takes such a rude tone with homeschoolers, it’s enough to make you wonder who brought her up [Common Room, Izzy Lyman/Big Journalism, "The Harms of Homeschooling" (PDF)] Parents charged with child endangerment for homeschooling their kids without submitting lesson plans [Albany Times-Union]
Videogames and the ADA: “Sony Launches Defense to Gamer’s Equal Access Suit” [OnPoint News, earlier]
Regulations may spell end for independent New England fishermen [AP/MSNBC, earlier]
Veteran California pol Willie Brown criticizes civil service entrenchment [Kaus] Government employment has its privileges [Stuart Greenhut, Reason]
New Jersey appeals court reverses $260K award over student’s fatal window fall at Fairleigh Dickinson U. [Star-Ledger]
Georgia federal judge orders plaintiff to pay $268K costs of discovery for stretching patent claims [Fulton County Daily Report]

Tags: art and artists, civil service, colleges and universities, disabled rights, discovery, loser pays, Massachusetts, patent litigation, Phoenix, schools, videogames, web accessibility

January 3 roundup

Walter Olson — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 12:48:21 +0000

“A Patient Dies, and Then the Anguish of Litigation” [Joan Savitsky, NYT, more]
“Kern County’s Monstrous D.A.” [Radley Balko]
“Former N.Y. Judge Sentenced to 27 Months in Jail for Attempted Bribery” [NYLJ]
“ADA Online: Is a Website a ‘Place of Public Accommodation’?” [Eric Robinson, Citizen Media Law, background here and here]
“The New Climate Litigation: How about if we sue you for breathing?” [WSJ editorial]
Saratoga school district agrees to overregulate, rather than ban, students’ bikes [Free-Range Kids, earlier]
“Head of BigLaw pro bono department fails to pay income taxes for 10 years? How’s that happen?” [WSJ Law Blog]
Municipal subprime suits: “The Most ‘Evil’ Lenders Are Also, Conveniently, The Richest” [Kevin Funnell; more at Point of Law]

Tags: medical malpractice, mortgages, nonmonetary costs of litigation, pro bono, prosecutorial abuse, web accessibility

Blind gamer sues Sony demanding ADA accommodation

Walter Olson — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:43:05 +0000

Alexander Stern has sued Sony Online Entertainment and various affiliated entities involved in online videogaming, saying the company “is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to implement features to make its games accessible to visually impaired gamers.” [Gamespot, Kotaku, The Register via Siouxsie Law]

Tags: disabled rights, videogames, web accessibility

November 29 roundup

Walter Olson — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 05:09:50 +0000

Disturbing implications from Lori Drew case of criminalizing website “terms of service” [Kerr @ Volokh and more; earlier]
Not quite what lawprof proponents of the class action format had in mind? Proposed law in South Korea “would allow businesses who suffer financial losses due to violent public protests to file class actions” against protesters [Korea Times via Karlsgodt, Class Action Blawg]
BlockShopper retains high-powered First Amendment attorney to fend off Jones Day’s don’t-blog-about-us suit [Ambrogi; earlier here, etc.]
New filings in pro wrestlers’ labor suit against WWE [Schwartz; earlier here and here]
“Brits Propose Potential Life Sentence for Johns” [Balko, Reason "Hit and Run"]
Narrowing “fair report” privilege, N.J. appeals court decides reporters can be liable for publishing defamatory allegations in court filing, while lawyers still immunized when they put those allegations there [Feral Child, Media Law, CT Blue; Salzano v. North Jersey Media Group, PDF]
It’ll be hard to live up to some of the high praise for my new web project with Heather Mac Donald, John Derbyshire, Razib Khan et al, Secular Right [D.R. Tucker, Human Events "Right Angle"; some other reactions]
Late in catching up on this, but Target in August agreed to pay $6 million to settle the big lawsuit over accessibility of its website to blind users [The Recorder; Ben Duranske discusses implications for virtual online worlds]

Tags: class actions, Heather Mac Donald, libel slander and defamation, New Jersey, publishers, United Kingdom, web accessibility

Overlawyered » web accessibility

A roadblock to e-readers in schools?

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