A recent trial court decision offers some encouragement for certain businesses facing the ongoing wave of litigation in which plaintiffs are asserting claims under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that companies have failed to make their websites sufficiently accessible to individuals with disabilities. In Winegard v. Newsday, a New York federal court held that a website, by itself, when not a "service" of a physical place of public accommodation, is not covered by the ADA. For businesses like Newsday that serve the public but do not maintain physical locations open to the public, this decision may help defend against those claims. This judge followed the precedent of district and appellate courts in other circuits that have similarly held that the ADA does not apply to such websites, and it may strengthen the position of those businesses in litigation in the Second Circuit.
The question of whether a website is itself a...
