Access Now, Inc. v. Southwest Airlines Co.
United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
227 F. Supp. 2d 1312 (2002)
- Written by Matthew Carney, JD
Facts
Southwest Airlines (defendant) is one of the largest airlines in the United States and does a significant amount of its business via its website. This business includes the booking of flight reservations. Robert Gumson (plaintiff), a blind individual, sought to use the Southwest website with the assistance of certain technologies designed to allow disabled people to use the Internet. Southwest’s website, however, was not designed in such a way as to allow these technologies to function. Therefore, it is impossible for the blind to navigate Southwest’s website. Gumson along with Access Now, Inc. (plaintiff), an advocacy group for the disabled, sued Southwest in federal district court, alleging that Southwest’s website violates Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Southwest filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Seitz, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 798,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,200 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.