NEW YORK (BRAIN) — Haro Bicycle Corp. and a New York man have agreed to settle the man's lawsuit over the bike company's website.
Valentin Reid, who is legally blind, had charged that Haro violated the American Disabilities Act, saying one of its websites, ridedelsol.com, was not accessible to the blind. Reid was the lead plaintiff in the class action lawsuit filed in October against Haro in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
Court filings show both sides have agreed to ask the court to dismiss the case permanently. The judge has not approved the dismissal request.
In October, Joe Hawk, Haro's COO, said the company believed its sites were ADA compliant but that it would correct any broken links or parts of the site that were difficult to use by the disabled.
Hawk had no comment this week.
Reid is the lead plaintiff on at least four similar suits filed in the court in October. The other cases appear to be proceeding.
Legal experts say thousands of similar suits — charging that commercial or government websites are not ADA compliant — have been filed in recent years. One source counted over 2,200 such suits filed in 2018, a 177% increase over the year prior.
