Webinar: Litigating Website Accessibility Cases – An Overview and the View from the Plaintiff and Defense Perspectives.

**Program hosted in (ET) Time Zone**

One of the hot areas of ADA jurisprudence is website accessibility litigation. This program will discuss the applicable laws and “rules,” found in such litigation. It will also discuss litigation concerns in website accessibility cases from both the plaintiff and defense perspective.

Save the Date!

Presented by FBA’s Civil Rights Law Section

Presenters

 William D Goren, Esq., Consulting

William D. Goren, Esq., of William D. Goren, J.D., LL.M. LLC in Decatur, GA, has been dealing with the ADA as an Attorney since 1990. His law and consulting practice, https://www.understandingtheada.com/, as well as his blog, Understanding the ADA,  all focus on understanding the ADA so that the client understands what it means to comply with that law and related laws. In particular, he provides consulting, counseling, representation, and training services involving compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and related laws- such as the Air Carrier Access Act and the Fair Housing Act-, among others.

Mr. Goren also brings a deep, personal understanding of what it means to have a disability, equipping him with exceptional insight on how the ADA actually works. He is deaf with a congenital bilateral hearing loss of 70–120+ decibels, but functions entirely in the hearing world thanks to hearing aids, Bluetooth technology, automatic speech recognition, and lip-reading. For reasons independent of his deafness, he also uses voice dictation technology to access his computer. He is also a frequent presenter, a trained mediator, a FINRA arbitrator (Chairperson eligible), and an arbitrator on the CPR employment panel. Finally, he is the author of Understanding the ADA, now in its 4th edition (ABA 2013), and numerous other articles on the rights of persons with disabilities. He is and has been a member of various committees of the American Bar Association, including: Legal Technology Resource Center Board (2017-2023); ABA Law Practice Section Client Development and Marketing Committee; ABA Law Practice Section Ethics and Professionalism Committee and the ABA’s Law Practice Section DEI committee. He is also a member of various committees of the Federal Bar Association, including: the Federal Bar Association (FBA) Committee for the Advancement in the Legal Profession (Diversity and Inclusion), committee; the FBA’s Civil Rights section and its Governing Board; FBA’s Civil Rights Amicus committee; and since 2022, the Chair of the FBA’s Disability Best Practices Working Group.

In the first year of the Disability Best Practices Working Group, it formulated an accessibility manual for the FBA and its chapters, and is currently working on a resource guide for attorneys when they are faced with situations involving persons with disabilities. He is also a member of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Bar Association and the Sports Lawyers Association. He has an A.B. from Vassar College, a J.D. from University of San Diego School of Law, and was one of the first in the entire country to receive the LL.M. in Health Law, in his case from DePaul University College of Law. Interesting fact: He trained his miniature poodle to be a hearing dog while he practices virtually.

Richard Hunt, Esq., Defense

Richard is a Texas Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer with more than forty years of experience representing businesses and individuals in litigation, arbitration, and mediation. He is AV rated by Martindale Hubble and is a Thomson Reuters Superlawyer. Richard’s practice covers a wide range of business disputes, with a particular focus on the disability rights provisions of the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. He has served as an adjunct professor teaching Disability Law at the Dedman School of Law at Southern Methodist University and has served on the Examination Committee for Civil Trial Certification for the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and as an adjunct professor of trial advocacy at Texas Wesleyan School of Law. Richard is the author of Accessibility Defense (accessdefense.com), a blog for businesses concerned with avoiding and defending lawsuits brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Fair Housing Act. Richard frequently writes, speaks and presents webinars on the ADA, FHA, and professional responsibility issues among other topics. He has been interviewed by The Economist, Forbes and other publications on issues related to ADA and FHA litigation.

Jessie Weber, Partner, Brown, Goldstein and Levy, LLP (Moderator)

Jessie Weber is Managing Partner at Brown, Goldstein & Levy, LLP (“BGL”), where she works on a range of civil litigation matters nationwide, with a focus on disability rights, fair housing, workplace justice, and appellate litigation. She has successfully litigated and resolved cases involving accessible technology and document formats, voting rights for individuals with print disabilities, access to health care and educational opportunities, and employment discrimination. She currently represents blind students and the National Federation of the Blind in litigation against the Los Angeles Community College District, and obtained a jury verdict finding LACCD violated plaintiffs’ rights under Title II of the ADA by denying them an equal educational experience, including through the use of inaccessible technology, and awarding the individual plaintiffs more than $240,000 in damages—a verdict recently reinstated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Ms. Weber was also part of the legal team advocating for coverage of websites and mobile applications under the ADA in Robles v. Domino’s Pizza, LLC, first through successful advocacy to the Ninth Circuit, resulting in a published decision clarifying that public accommodations must make their web and mobile services accessible now and cannot wait until the DOJ issues website-specific regulations, and later by obtaining an order from the trial court holding that Domino’s violated the ADA by maintaining an inaccessible website and requiring Domino’s to make its website accessible. Before joining BGL, Ms. Weber was a Francis D. Murnaghan, Jr. Appellate Advocacy Fellow at the Public Justice Center where she worked on issues affecting marginalized communities. Before that, she served as a law clerk for Judge Catherine C. Blake of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. She serves as president of the board of Disability Rights Maryland and previously served on the boards of the ACLU of Maryland and FreeState Justice. Ms. Weber obtained her AB from Princeton University and her JD from Yale Law School.

Registration

Save the Date!

• Live Broadcast | FBA Member: $0
• Live Broadcast | Nonmember: $95
• On-Demand Broadcast | FBA Member: $50
• On-Demand Broadcast | Nonmember: $95