The U.S. Supreme Court Monday denied a petition from Domino’s Pizza, LLC. to have its case heard on the issue of whether its website and mobile app had to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The case arose after Guillermo Robles, a man with vision impairment, attempted to use Domino’s services and found his screen reading software was not able to work with the company’s website or app.
The petition from Domino’s argued that since the ADA was passed by the U.S Congress in 1990, its online services could not be regulated by Title III.
The District Court found that the ADA did apply to the Domino’s but sided with the company on the basis that it did not have fair notice that its online services had to comply with the ADA.
Robles appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals, which ruled that online services of companies were subject to Title III of the ADA and that the off-premises nature of the services did not change the need for accessibility accommodations.
“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 9th Circuit’s ruling says. “The panel stated that the website and app connected customers to the goods and services of Domino’s physical restaurants.”
With the Supreme Court refusing to hear the case, the ruling from the 9th Circuit stands and Robles’ lawsuit against Domino’s will go to trial court.