California's Unruh Act and website accessibility

Definition

The Unruh Civil Rights Act guarantees full and equal access to the accommodations and services of all business establishments in California. It provides for statutory damages, and a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act is also a violation of the Unruh Act under California law.

Does it apply to you

• The Unruh Act is relevant to California business-accessibility claims, including claims that also allege ADA violations. Its application and available remedies depend on the facts and legal basis of the claim. A California lawyer can assess a particular website or demand letter.

Why it matters

Because an ADA violation is also an Unruh violation, a single inaccessible website can support claims under both federal and state law at once. Unruh provides for statutory damages per offense, meaning a claimant does not have to prove financial loss. The specific amounts and the circumstances in which a reduced figure applies are matters for a lawyer.

Requirements

• A technical assessment can identify barriers and document remediation.
• The applicable legal requirements and response to a claim should be reviewed with counsel.

Steadwatch's role

• Automated accessibility checks before publication, quarterly manual review and a dated record of findings.
• Barriers reported by a visitor are triaged and fixed, and each fix is recorded with a date.

Records you receive

• A dated, continuous accessibility record rather than a single audit.
• A published accessibility statement with a route for reporting a barrier.

Your responsibilities

• Any decision about responding to a demand letter or a filing. We can produce the technical record; whether and how to respond is a legal question.