National Federation of the Blind v. Target Corporation: FACT SHEET Case Information Case Name: National Federation of the Blind, et al. v. Target Corporation, et al. Case No: C 06-1802 MHP Court: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, The Honorable Marilyn Hall Patel presiding Date Case Filed: February 7, 2006 Case Type: Class action lawsuit for injunctive relief, declaratory relief and damages Claims: The Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. § 12182); California Unruh Civil Rights Act (California Civil Code § 51); and California’s Disabled Persons Act (California Civil Code § 54.1) Plaintiffs’ Counsel Disability Rights Advocates – A non-profit law firm dedicated to protecting and advancing the civil rights of people with disabilities located in Berkeley, California. DRA advocates for disability rights through high-impact litigation, as well as research and education. DRA's national advocacy work includes high-impact class action litigation on behalf of people with all types of disabilities, including mobility, hearing, vision, learning and psychological disabilities. Through negotiation and litigation, DRA has made thousands of facilities throughout the country accessible and has enforced access rights for millions of people with disabilities in many key areas of life, including education, employment, health care and public accommodations. Schneider & Wallace, LLP, located in San Francisco, is a dedicated group of California trial lawyers committed to continuing the work of the civil rights movement through individual and class action litigation. The practice has litigated extensively and with unparalleled success against prominent corporate and government entities since 1993. Brown, Goldstein & Levy, LLP is a Baltimore-based law firm and is Maryland’s leading civil rights firm. It has represented the National Federation of the Blind in cases throughout the United States, including against AOL. Q & A Q: What is the basis of the suit? A: Target’s website was impossible for blind people to use. Blind people could not access much of the information on the website, nor could they make purchases independently using the website. The National Federation of the Blind, a nationwide advocacy organization, seeks to make Target’s website fully accessible to all blind customers. Q: Who is in the class? A: The class consists of all legally Blind persons in the U.S. who have been denied full and equal access to goods and services at Target stores due to barriers on Target.com. A subclass has also been certified consisting of all legally blind Californians who have experienced access barriers on the website. Q: How do blind people access the internet? A: Blind people use screen-reading software which vocalizes information on a computer screen. If a website is accessible, blind people can use their screen readers and keyboards to access information and services on websites. Q: Why is this suit important to people with disabilities and to all Americans? A: The internet is a cornerstone of the modern economy. One of the country’s largest retailers cannot exclude an entire segment of the population from its goods and services. This lawsuit is a warning to all large companies with an internet presence that the blind will not be left behind on the information superhighway. Q: Who are the plaintiffs? A: The National Federation of the Blind (“NFB”) is a national advocacy organization. The NFB, the oldest and largest national organization of blind persons, is a non-profit organization located in Baltimore, Maryland. It has affiliates in all 50 states (including California) as well as Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. The vast majority of the Federation’s approximately 50,000 members are blind persons. The NFB is widely recognized by the public, Congress, executive agencies of government and the courts as a collective and representative voice on behalf of blind Americans and their families. Since 1940, the NFB has been promoting the general welfare of the blind by (1) assisting the blind in their efforts to integrate themselves into society on terms of equality and (2) removing barriers and changing social attitudes, stereotypes and mistaken beliefs that sighted and blind persons hold concerning the limitations created by blindness, resulting in the denial of opportunity to blind persons in virtually every sphere of life. The NFB and many of its members have long been actively involved in promoting adaptive technology for the blind, so that blind persons can live and work independently in today’s technology-dependent world. NFB members reside throughout the United States, including the state of California, and many of its members would use the services of Target.com if Target’s website is made independently usable by the blind. The NFB runs the International Braille and Technology Center for the Blind at its headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland. The Center, which houses more than $2 million worth of hardware and software designed specifically for the blind, is the world’s most extensive demonstration and evaluation center for computer-related technology serving the needs of blind people. The NFB has been a leading force in making technology accessible to the blind. It co-ventures the development of accessible technology, such as NFB Newsline and NFB Jobline, and has successfully used lawsuits to require accessible ATMs, voting machines, including those of the State of Maryland and online service providers, including AOL. It also awards companies such as Wells Fargo who take proactive steps to make their websites accessible to the blind. The National Federation of the Blind of California (“NFB of California”) is a state affiliate of the National Federation of the Blind. NFB of California is a California corporation and carries out NFB’s objectives at the state level. It has local chapters throughout California. Plaintiff BJ Sexton is a blind student at UC Berkeley. He also serves as the president of the California Association of Blind Students, a division of the NFB of California. Plaintiffs Melissa Williamson and James P. Marks are blind individuals who are members of the NFB. Each of these individuals has experienced access barriers at Target.com Q: Who is the Defendant? A: Target Corporation is one of the largest retail companies in the nation. In 2004, Target reported gross revenue of $46 billion. Q: How did this suit develop? A: The NFB wrote Target in May 2005 asking Target to make its website accessible to persons who are blind. The NFB and Target entered into negotiations, which lasted until January 2006. Target still refused to make its website accessible. The NFB thus filed this lawsuit. Q: How can Target make its website accessible to the Blind? A: A website can be coded to be accessible to blind people by complying with the Web Content Accessibility standards set forth by the World Wide Web Consortium (found at http://w3c.org/wai) or by the standards promulgated by the Governmental Access Board, known as the Section 508 guidelines. These standards include: adding invisible alt-text to graphics so that screen readers can recognize and vocalize them; insuring that all functions can be done using a keyboard; insuring that image maps are accessible; and adding headings so that blind people can easily navigate within the website. Q: What laws are being violated by Target Corp? A: Target is violating the California Unruh Civil Rights Act, the California Disabled Persons Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Q: What are the goals of this lawsuit? A: The goal of this lawsuit is to make Target’s website fully accessible to blind customers, and to remedy the existing civil rights violations against the class.