All Elite Wrestling is facing legal action over their AEW Shop website for being inaccessible to visually impaired people.
A plaintiff named Luigi Abreu has brought the class action complaint against the promotion on May 4 in the Southern District of New York. The plaintiff is visually impaired and legally blind who depends on screen reading software to browse the internet. According to the complaint, shopaew.com does not have any features to make it accessible to people with visual impairments.
“Plaintiff LUIGI ABREU (“Plaintiff”) brings this class action both on an individual basis and, on behalf of all others similarly situated, for declaratory relief, injunctive relief, and compensatory damages-including statutory and punitive damages-against defendant named herein, and alleges based upon the personal knowledge of Plaintiff, the investigation of counsel, and upon information and belief,” the complaint reads (via Brandon Thurston).
The complaint argues that AEW’s lack of accessibility features for visually impaired people violates their rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“Plaintiff is a visually-impaired and legally blind person who brings this civil rights class action against defendant ALL ELITE WRESTLING, LLC for its failure, design, construct, maintain, and operate its website to be fully accessible to-and independently used by-Plaintiff and other blind or visually-impaired people who use screen-reading software,” the lawsuit continues.
The lawsuit argues that due to the lack of these features, visually impaired and legally blind people are denied access to the “equal enjoyment of goods/and or services offered on the website during the past three years.”
Abreu is seeking a jury trial and is also asking for their legal costs to be covered.
In 2020, WWE also faced legal action for its WWEShop.com website for not being equally accessible to blind and visually-impaired consumers. WWE reportedly settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed amount.