Websites Not Subject to Americans With Disabilities Act

In an October 18, 2002 order, the Federal Court in Florida has dismissed with prejudice a lawsuit brought against Southwest Airlines to force the airline to make its website compatible with accessibility software for the blind. As summarized in the October 10, 2002 E-tips issue, this proceeding involved the question of whether the definition of a "place of public accommodation" in the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) applied to a digital venue as well as a physical one. The court accepted the narrower purely physical definition on the basis that: (a) the ADA defines the term "place of public accommodation" inclusively with reference to enumerated establishments which are inherently physical; (b) the regulations define a "place of public accommodation" as a facility and a facility is defined in terms of purely physical, concrete places and things; and (c) the ejusdem generis rule of statutory interpretation that "where general words follow a specific enumeration of persons or things, the general words should be limited to persons or things similar to those specifically enumerated". To view the order, visit: http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov/default.asp?file=cases/index.html and follow the link under 02-CV-21734-SEITZ -- Access Now, Inc. & Robert Gumson v. Southwest Airlines, Co.