Fashion Nova agrees to 5 million dollar settlement over allegedly inaccessible site

Fast fashion retailer Fashion Nova has agreed to pay 5.15 million dollars in gross settlement to legally blind individuals that found its website inaccessible.

The plaintiff in the class action lawsuit, Juan Alcazar, alleged that the e-commerce site of the company had denied such individuals, who use screen reading software, “an experience to that of sighted individuals”.

The filing, under case number 4:20-cv-01434-JST, was initially brought forth by Alcazar in 2020, and claims that Fashion Nova was in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Unruh Civil Rights Act.

Fashion Nova has rebuffed the allegations and maintains that it did nothing wrong, a press release issued by legal firm CPT Group noted. FashionUnited has contacted Fashion Nova with its own request to comment.

The United States District Court, Northern District of California has ruled that all legally blind individuals, including those in the State of California, who had attempted to access Fashion Nova’s website by use of screen reading software within a certain period up until the final judgment date were considered Settlement Classes.

With this, the retailer has agreed to pay the aforementioned settlement amount, as well as make changes to its website so it is accessible to legally blind individuals.

This builds on additional legal trouble Fashion Nova has recently faced. Earlier this year, the US’ Federal Trade Commission said it was sending 2.4 million dollars in refunds to the retailer’s customers after it was found to be blocking negative product reviews on its website.