Frankly, I much prefer pizza from Papa Murphy's.
Carl Jarvis
United States Supreme Court Denies Petition from Domino’s Pizza
by Chris Danielsen
From the Editor: Chris Danielsen is our energetic director of public
relations, and he writes this short follow-up to the article in the
October issue
entitled “Accessibility and Accountability: Drive-by Lawsuits Leave
Pothole-size Problems.” In that piece Chris mentioned the request by
Domino’s Pizza
that the Supreme Court declare that the Americans with Disabilities
Act did not apply to the internet. Here is his recounting of what just
happened:
In last month’s Braille Monitor, we mentioned a petition pending
before the United States Supreme Court brought by Domino’s Pizza.
Domino’s had filed what
is legally known as a petition for certiorari, or “cert petition,”
which is a legal document asking the Supreme Court to review a lower
court’s ruling.
Each year the Supreme Court hears a select group of cases drawn from
such petitions. Domino’s wanted the Supreme Court to overrule a
decision by the Federal
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Judicial Circuit, based in California.
That ruling had affirmed the right of a blind man, Guillermo Robles,
to sue the company
under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) because he couldn’t
use its website to order a pizza. Domino’s argued that the Supreme
Court should put
an end to such lawsuits by ruling that the ADA does not apply to
websites, or, if the court wasn’t willing to go that far, to at least
rule that it was
unfair to allow such lawsuits in the absence of federal regulations
setting accessibility standards. So far, the United States Department
of Justice, which
enforces the ADA, has declined to issue such regulations. Obviously,
any ruling along the lines Domino’s wanted would have made it much
harder, or perhaps
impossible, for the National Federation of the Blind and others to
bring ADA claims regarding inaccessible websites.
The Monitor went to press before Monday, October 7, the “first Monday
in October” that begins each Supreme Court term. Thus, it was unclear
at the time
whether the Supreme Court would take the case. On that exact first
Monday, the Supreme Court issued an order denying the petition. This
means that the
ninth circuit’s ruling stands and that Mr. Robles’ case will go
forward. More importantly, it means that for now the ability to bring
website claims under
the ADA remains intact.