Suing for access. charity Web sites could be impacted by court case.

A federal district court judge is expected to rule this month on whether retailers' Web sites must be accessible to the blind under California State law and are subject to the law even if there is no nexus to a physical place, such as a store.

The ruling will be the latest step in the court case National Federation of the Blind (NFB) v. Target Corp. in front of Judge Marilyn Hall Patel, sitting in the Northern District of California. The plaintiffs, NFB, NFB of California, and blind UC Berkeley student Bruce "BJ" Sexton, are also seeking class action status.

Judge Patel last year ruled in favor of the plaintiffs on the argument that the retail giant's Web site, target.com, is in violation of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. The basis for the Sept. 7 ruling was that all services provided by Target, not just its physical stores, must be accessible to persons with disabilities. The plaintiffs are now awaiting the court's decision on whether state laws the California Unruh Civil Rights Act and the California Disabled Persons Act require access to Web sites such as target.com.

"This case will be an important precedent," said Larry Paradis, attorney with nonprofit law firm Disability Rights Advocates, "that to impede Web site access is a violation of federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination against the blind." Paradis said the implications extend to nonprofits that offer online retail versions of their physical store locations, and will open up the possibility of legal action against them if their Web sites are deemed in accessible. The Berkeley-based law firm, along with civil rights law firms Brown, Goldstein & Levy in Baltimore, and San Francisco-based Schneider & Wallace, represent the plaintiffs in the suit.

Target filed a cross motion for summary judgment one week after NFB's filing for class action certification this past March, questioning the merits of the case. "Target.com believes our Web site is fully accessible and complies with all applicable laws. Despite the lawsuit brought forward by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), we have always and will continue to implement new technologies to enhance the usability of our Web site for all of our guests, Target said in a statement. Target Spokesperson Lena Michaud said the retailer is limiting its comments to the statement.

But according to Paradis, Target has recently acknowledged that its Web site is, in fact, not accessible to blind people, and has begun a two-year plan to remove the barriers. According to experts, that entails making the site compliant with screen access software, which vocalizes text and graphics and makes online navigation feasible for the blind.

"There's obviously a huge class of people that is affected," said Chris Danielson, spokesman for NFB. Danielson said it would not be cost prohibitive for the multi-billion-dollar retailer to make its site compliant with screen access software. "You're talking thousands of dollars, not hundreds of thousands of dollars, not even necessarily tens of thousands," he said.

Smaller companies with fewer than 15 employees are not covered under the ADA, and thus are not required to comply with the federal statute, said Danielson.

According to Danielson, NFB first notified Target during 2005, and repeatedly asked the retailer to add alternative text to its Web design. The "alt-text," an invisible code embedded beneath graphic images, enables screen access software to detect and vocalize the content of a Web page. After eight months of negotiations hit a standstill, NFB on February 7, 2006, fried a class action suit in California's Alameda Superior Court. On March 9, defendant Target removed the case to federal court under Patel, filing a motion to dismiss the claims made by the plaintiffs. That motion was rejected.

The ADA was signed into law in 1990, at a time when the words "Internet" and "Web site" were obscure and did not warrant inclusion in the federal statute.

When the court decided last September to proceed with the case, NFB marked it a great victory. Companies across the nation responded by making their Web sites accessible, according to Danielson, who noted among them is online retail giant Amazon.com. The two entities announced a partnership this past March to improve Internet accessibility for blind people. The two signed a cooperative agreement with a deadline of December 31,2007, for Amazon.com to be fully accessible.