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The Journal.

Who is Filing Thousands of Disability Lawsuits Against Businesses?

The Journal.

The Wall Street Journal

Daily News, Business News, News

4.25.3K Ratings

🗓️ 5 August 2024

⏱️ 19 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Under the Americans With Disabilities Act, businesses are supposed to make their websites accessible to the visually impaired. WSJ's Ruth Simon found that this requirement has led to an explosion of lawsuits, many of which are against small businesses. Further Reading: - The Law Firm Hitting Businesses With Thousands of Disability Suits Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Jason Kraft runs a small online business in Pennsylvania.

0:09.0

My name is Jason Kraft.

0:10.0

I'm the CEO of Electric Bike Technologies and I've been making electric bicycle

0:15.8

products for the past 16 years. His company specializes in electric powered bicycles

0:21.6

and tricycles. He sells his bikes exclusively online.

0:25.0

But over the last two years, Jason has had a focus on something other than spokes and wheels.

0:30.0

In 2022, he was served a lawsuit.

0:36.0

I was at home and someone knocked on the door, you know, serving me papers and my daughter was there.

0:42.0

And it's uncomfortable. Someone comes to your house. papers and my daughter was there.

0:42.6

And it's uncomfortable.

0:44.0

Someone comes to your house and they give you papers

0:46.2

and it's kind of, you know, with this ominous look.

0:49.0

What did it say?

0:50.8

I didn't fully understand it right away, but it was, you know, it said your website is not accessible.

0:58.0

I mean that's mild terms of what it said, but you know, it's you've done something very wrong and you're in trouble.

1:06.0

Electric Bike Technologies was being sued by a blind person who claimed he wasn't able to navigate

1:11.0

Jason's website to buy a bike, which according to the law amounts

1:15.6

to discrimination against the disabled.

1:19.7

Jason said he'd never heard from this customer before and to him something about the case

1:24.3

seemed unusual.

1:25.3

There's so much wrong with this suit, you know, I saw electric bikes and I can tell you blind people don't ride bikes

1:35.0

shocker.

...

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