PITTSBURGH – An insurer is being sued over a claim that its website has barriers that limit the ability of the blind and visually impaired to peruse it.
Jessica Hodges and Michelle Sipe filed a lawsuit March 8 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania against Metlife, Inc. alleging a violation of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
According to the lawsuit, blind and visually impaired consumers must use screen reading software or other assistive technologies in order to access website content because MetLife’s website contains digital barriers which limit the ability of blind and visually impaired consumers to access the site.
Hodges and Sipe are seeking a permanent injunction requiring a change in MetLife Inc.’s corporate policy to cause their website to become and remain accessible to the blind, as well as payment of costs of the lawsuit.
Hodges 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 of Pittsburgh.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania Court Case number 2:16-cv-00267-AJS