2019 Multifamily Innovation Digital Magazine

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as the “nexus theory,” where a website
is proven to be an extension of
a business’ physical location. This
theory came to light a few years ago
in a lawsuit against a grocery store
chain, where it was concluded that
the website was an extension of
the store itself. The court ordered
the chain to bring its website into
conformance, adopt accessibility
policies, and conduct ongoing
compliance audits. The court also
awarded the plaintiff more than
$100,000 in attorneys’ fees.
Recently, a surf-by-lawsuit, Robles
vs. Domino’s Pizza, made its way
through the legal system and into
the hands of the U.S. Supreme
Court. The nexus theory was used in
this case, and in a landmark decision
by the U.S. Supreme Court, a
federal appeals court’s conclusion
that Domino’s inaccessible website
violated the terms of the ADA was
upheld. This ruling has sent shock
waves across the business community,
opening the flood gates for
even more web accessibility litigation.
Multifamily housing sits at the top of
the high-risk list for surf-by lawsuits.
Not only is housing a highly
regulated industry, but it also serves
as the model for non-discrimination
under the Fair Housing Act. With
interconnected websites extending
digital services from apartment
communities’ physical buildings,
multifamily clearly ties into the nexus
theory, as well.
Bringing Your Digital
Services Into Compliance
Making your property’s website accessible
will not be easy or inexpensive.
Most multifamily professionals
rely on specialized providers for
their digital services, and many of
those providers state they code to
Best Practices – but what does this
really mean? For most, it means they
used an online testing tool, such
as WAVE, or the Web Accessibility
Evaluation Tool.
Although it is a great start, WAVE
can only detect less than 20 percent
of WCAG 2.1 Level AA errors. WCAG,
or “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines,”
is the most reliable blueprint
for web accessibility standards. It
was originally implemented 20 years
ago by the World Wide Web Consortium,
which currently has over 400
members that contribute to creating
an array of guidelines, code examples,
and standards. By meeting
WGAC 2.1 Level AA standards, your
website will become compliant with
ADA specifications. WGAC 2.1 has
even been referenced in several
court settlements, initially utilized in
a structured negotiation agreement