PITTSBURGH – A retailer of beauty supplies is being sued on a claim that its websites are inaccessible to the blind and visually impaired.
Debra Rozear and Michelle Sipe filed a lawsuit on March 4 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania against Sally Beauty Holdings Inc. alleging a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Rozear and Sipe allege that Sally Beauty’s websites are not accessible to the blind and visually impaired. The plaintiffs are seeking a permanent injunction that would change the Sally Beauty Holdings Inc. web-based technologies so that the company's websites will become and will remain accessible to the blind and visually impaired consumer, according to the suit. They are also seeking payment of costs of suit, payment of reasonable attorneys’ fees and any other relief the court deems just, equitable and appropriate.
As of now, according to the complaint, blind and visually impaired consumers must use screen reading software and other assistive technologies in order to access www.sallybeautyholdings.com and www.sallybeauty.com.
Rozear and Sipe are being represented by attorneys R. Bruce Carlson, Benjamin J. Sweet and Stephanie K. Goldin of Carlson Lynch Sweet & Kilpela, L.L.P. in Pittsburgh.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania Case number 2:16-cv-00250-AJS