Target’s Way off Target

Way back in 2006 a blind student at the University of California-Berkeley, Bruce Sexton Jr., filed a lawsuit against the national retail giant, Target. Bruce, in conjunction with the National Federation of the Blind, has accused Target.com of having an inaccessible website.

It’s a serious problem. The Internet is becoming important for day-to-day tasks, such as online banking, research and buying products. Sexton hopes to bring public attention to this increasingly important issue.

A number of lawsuits were brought up in 2004 against AOL, Priceline and Ramada, but never made it to court as changes were made to the websites. A few months later, Southwest.com made it to trial, but the judge ruled the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) only applied to physical buildings.

This lawsuit may be different as California has additional discrimination laws in place. It’s going to be an uphill battle, but it appears that Target is beginning to feel the moral obligation to increase accessibility.

Early last week Judge Marilyn Hall Patel certified the case as a National Class Action to proceed according to California law.