I’m back, having got married, been on honeymoon, and perhaps inevitably, caught COVID. So, a little later than planned, please enjoy the latest issue of frequent11y!

Robles v. Domino’s Settles After Six Years of Litigation

This case concerns Guillermo Robles, a blind customer of Domino’s who was unable to order a custom pizza from their website or app, so sued them under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

I wrote about this case in my first ever issue of week11y, in October 2019. At the time, the US Supreme Court had just declined Domino’s appeal of a Ninth Circuit decision to overturn a district court’s decision to dismiss the lawsuit. (American law is complicated. Also, disclaimer: I’m no law expert).

Since then, in June 2021, the district court ruled in Robles’ favour, concluding that the website was not fully accessible and that a 45 minute wait on a telephone line was not a reasonable substitute. There’s lots of interesting information in the ADA Title III analysis of that ruling, such as Domino’s own expert not being able to place an order using a screen reader. There is also some distinction between Domino’s website and their mobile app, which are treated differently in law – the case was only allowed to continue regarding the app, rather than the website.

In what is believed to be a final end to the case, the parties have now settled out of court. The terms of that resolution are not (and may never be) known.

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