Gil v. Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc.

257 F. Supp. 3d 1340
District Court, S.D. Florida·Decided June 12, 2017·No. Civil Action No. 16-23020-Civ-Scola·Published·Cited by 11 cases

Opinion

Verdict and Order Following Nom-Jury Trial

Robert N. Scola, Jr., United States District Judge

The Plaintiff brings this action under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12181-12189 (the “ADA”), alleging that’ the Defendant’s website, www.winndixieicom, is inaccessible to the visually impaired. The Plaintiff seeks declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as attorneys’ fees and costs.

Juan Carlos Gil is a visually impaired individual who is a customer of Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. (“Winn-Dixie”). Winn-Dixie is the owner and operator of a regional chain of grocery stores, some of which have pharmacies. The parties do not dispute that Gil has a qualified disability under the ADA. The parties also do not dispute that Winn-Dixie’s .grocery stores and pharmacies are public accommodations as defined by the ADA. The issues remaining to be determined are: . (1) whether Winn-Dixie’s website is subject to the ADA as a service of a public accommodation, or, in the alternative, whether the website is a public accommodation in and of itself; (2) whether Gil was denied the full and equal enjoyment of Winn-Dixie’s goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations because of his disability; and (3) whether the requested modifications to Winn-Dixie’s website are reasonable and readily achievable.

On June 5 and 6, 2017, the Court held a non-jury trial. Prior to the trial, the parties submitted a Joint Pretrial Stipulation (EOF No. 34), as well as their proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law (EOF Nos. 38, 39.) The Court has carefully reviewed these submissions.' After considering the- credible testimony and evidence, and the applicable law, the Court finds that the Defendant has violated the Plaintiffs rights under the ADA. As a result, [1343] the Court finds in favor of the Plaintiff on Count One of the Complaint.

1. Findings of Fact .

The Court heard testimony from three witnesses: Juan Carlos Gil, Rodney Corn-well, and Chris Keroack. There were virtually no disputes in the testimony and evidence and the Court found all three witnesses to be credible and forthcoming.

Plaintiff, Juan Carlos Gil, has resided in Miami for 25 years, He is visually impaired, is legally blind and has cerebral palsy. Hé lives in the area of SW 27th Avenue and Coral Way. He wears glasses because he has optic nerve hypoglasia. The glasses help protect his eyes from foreign objects.

He is able to use a computer but cannot see the screen. He uses access technology software. He uses JAWS or other screen reader software. The screen reader automatically tells Gil what is going on on the website. Every time he hits the tab or shift tab the program will tell him what he needs to type. He cannot use a mouse but uses a keyboard.

He uses JAWS 95% of the time. If JAWS crashes, he needs to have alternate screen access programs. He has used these screen access programs for over 25 years. He uses JAWS most often because it is the industry standard.

NVDA is a consortium of individuals who are blind who have created an access method for people who cannot afford JAWS. JAWS costs about $1200. Gil uses NVDA sometimes but its functions are rudimentary and JAWS works much better than NVDA.

NVDA has human sounding voices and JAWS has robotic voices.

Gil has also used Voiceover software when he uses his Mae Book Pro which is an excellent screen access program.

Windows has the Narrator screen access software but it does not work well at all.

There is no federal organization that mandates particulars of website accessibility. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is produced by a consortium of private organizations whose goal is to make websites accessible for all.

Gil also uses the Google search engine to locate businesses but it is faster to go directly to the business’ website.

Gil used internet browsers Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari on his different computers to access the Winn-Dixie website. He used Dell laptop ahd Mac computers to try to access the website!

Gil has worked with Florida Vision Technology for the past five years helping individuals maximize their potential with software. Prior to that, he volunteered for different organizations.

Gil has been a customer of Winn-Dixie. He went to school in 1999-2000 at the .Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine, Florida. He-graduated in 2002.

He was in a vending program and the school did a trip for the students to go to Winn-Dixie to learn how to use the services to buy products for the vending stand they were operating.

Since his: only income at the 'time of graduation was from Social Security, Gil continued to use Winn-Dixie due to its low prices. The majority of Winn-Dixies have pharmacies and Gil sometimes used the pharmacies to fill his prescriptions.

Gil most recently used the Winn-Dixie in the summer of 2015 in the area of 27th Avenue. He has a Winn-Dixie rewards card.

Over..the years, he shopped, at Winn-Dixie 30-40 times. It is his main grocery store because of its low prices.

[1344] The last time he filled a prescription at Winn-Dixie was 2.5 to 3 years ago.

To refill the prescription, he would go into the store and ask someone to assist him. A store employee would walk him to the area of the pharmacy and he would tell the pharmacist what he needed. But he felt uncomfortable because he did not know who else was nearby listening.

He has used Walgreens and Publix to fill prescriptions. Sometimes he goes to the store to pick up the prescription and sometimes they would deliver the prescription to his home by carrier.

Without an accessible website, his only way of getting coupons was to have a friend read the coupons from a newspaper. He would also ask employees to find coupons for him but sometimes the employees seemed annoyed by his request for help.

In 2015-2016, he learned Winn-Dixie had a website and people in numerous organizations, including the Center for Independent Living, American Council of the Blind and National Federation of the Blind, told him the website was accessible. Gil was already familiar with using the screen reader software.

Gil heard ads on TV for the Winn-Dixie website and heard one could access coupons and refill prescriptions online. He was interested since he could finally do something independently without asking somebody for help.

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Gil v. Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., 257 F. Supp. 3d 1340 (S.D. Fla. 2017).

257 F. Supp. 3d 1340 (Gil v. Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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