Accessibility and mobile apps: new Ninth Circuit decision, Robles v. Domino’s Pizza, applies ADA to mobile apps

In Robles v. Domino’s Pizza, the Ninth Circuit held that Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to both websites and mobile applications. This decision reversed the district court’s dismissal of a class action lawsuit which asserted that Domino’s Pizza violated the ADA and California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act (UCRA) by failing to make its website and mobile app accessible to individuals who are blind or visually impaired.

Even though customers primarily accessed the website and app away from Domino’s physical restaurants, the panel stated that the ADA applies to the services of a public accommodation, not services in a place of public accommodation. The panel stated that the website and app connected customers to the goods and services of Domino’s physical restaurants.

The Robles decision did not rule on whether Domino’s website and mobile app comply with the ADA.  The court concluded “We leave it to the district court, after discovery, to decide in the first instance whether Domino’s website and app provide the blind with effective communication and full and equal enjoyment of its products and services as the ADA mandates.”

http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2019/01/15/17-55504.pdf