Peter Shapiro Quoted by The Wall Street Journal in Article On Rise of Digital Accessibility Litigation

New York, N.Y. (July 16, 2021) – New York Partner and Northeast Regional Vice-Chair of Lewis Brisbois’ Labor & Employment Practice Peter T. Shapiro was recently quoted by the The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in an article titled “Lawsuits Over Digital Accessibility for People With Disabilities Are Rising,” which discusses the steady increase in litigation involving claims of digital violations of federal and state civil rights laws.

As the article describes, the number of U.S. lawsuits alleging that apps, websites, and digital videos were inaccessible to individuals with disabilities rose by 64% in the first half of 2021, as compared to the prior year. The plaintiffs in these matters claimed digital violations of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act. The companies that have been sued most often include e-commerce, digital media, financial, food service, and healthcare organizations.

Mr. Shapiro told WSJ that regardless of companies’ efforts in the accessibility arena, they may still be subject to lawsuits. “The current situation is very perilous for businesses—they don’t know whether they comply, no matter how much they expand and resources they devote to trying to be compliant,” he explained.

Mr. Shapiro has more than 30 years of litigation experience, with emphasis on the defense of employment discrimination, ADA access matters, non-compete, wage and hour, civil rights, and trade secrets. As a member of the firm’s COVID-19 Response Team, he has authored a number of alerts analyzing the novel labor and employment issues raised by the pandemic. Visit our COVID-19 Response Resource Center to find these alerts.

You may read the full WSJ article here.