EAST ST. LOUIS - A man who has been legally blind since childhood is suing Eero LLC, claiming its digital properties are not accessible to individuals who are visually impaired.
Plaintiff Eric Foreman filed the complaint on March 23 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois against Eero LLC, alleging violations of the Americans with Disability Act (ADA). Foreman has filed several other similar lawsuits in federal court.
According to the lawsuit, Foreman claims he could not effectively communicate with Eero because the company’s digital content wasn’t formatted to be accessible to him.
“Legally blind customers such as [the] plaintiff are deprived from accessing information about [the] defendant’s products and using its online services, all of which are readily available to sighted customers,” the suit states.
The complaint states that Foreman has been blind since the age of 4, a result of congenital glaucoma. As a result of his visual impairment, Foreman uses a screen navigator to scan the internet. Foreman relies on screen access software that translates the visual components of the internet into sound for the visually impaired user.
Foreman claims Eero’s website isn’t formatted to work with screen navigators. As a result, he claims he is denied access to the company’s website, which sells WiFi extenders and routers.
Moreover, the lawsuit alleges that Eero’s website has never been accessible to the visually impaired and the company doesn’t appear to have a corporate policy to ensure its websites are accessible.
“Digital platforms have features and content that are modified on daily, and in some instances an hourly, basis, and a onetime ‘fix’ to an inaccessible digital platform will not cause the digital platform to remain accessible without a corresponding change in corporate policies related to those web-based technologies,” the suit states.
Foreman seeks to have Eero retain a consultant to assist in revamping its websites to be accessible to the visual impaired while ensuring employees are updated on developing websites and content that are accessible.
“To evaluate whether an inaccessible digital platform has been rendered accessible, and whether corporate policies related to web-based technologies have been changed in a meaningful manner that will cause the digital platform must be reviewed on a periodic basis using both automated accessibility screening tools and end user testing by disabled individuals,” the suit states.
Foreman also asks that the consultant perform accessibility testing at least quarterly and the company will incorporate any recommendations within 60 days. He also seeks an order requiring Eero to provide a notice on the footer of each page seeking feedback from website visitors on how accessibility can be reviewed.
The lawsuit further requests an injunction to direct the defendant to make its website compliant with ADA guidelines.
Foreman seeks court costs, attorney's fees and all other relief the court deems just. He is represented by Benjamin J. Sweet and Jonathan D. Miller with Nye Stirling, Hale & Miller LLP.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois case number 3:22-cv-591