Court Appoints Chandler Steiger to Represent Nationwide Class under the ADA

On September 19, 2023, the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania certified a nationwide class of individuals who claimed that Mondelez Global LLC lacked sufficient corporate policies and practices to ensure its websites, including for popular brands like Oreo and Ritz Crackers, were fully and equally accessible under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. 12181 et seq., to consumers with visual disabilities who use screen reader auxiliary aids to shop online.

The Court appointed East End Trial attorney Chandler Steiger as Class Counsel, finding her and her team are “experienced and competent class action counsel who will continue to fairly and adequately protect the interests of the Settlement Class.” 

The Court approved the parties’ class action settlement agreement requiring Mondelez Global to ensure its websites and future websites and mobile applications provide effective communication to all users, including consumers who use screen reader auxiliary aids, using the success criteria of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1, at Levels A and AA (June 5, 2018), published by the World Wide Web Consortium, available at www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/, as a guide. The agreement also requires that Mondelez Global follow certain steps to ensure that its websites become and remain accessible. These steps include, among other things:

1. Mondelez Global shall appoint or retain an accessibility consultant knowledgeable about digital accessibility and the ADA. he accessibility consultant’s duties shall include, among other things, (a) assisting Mondelez Global to conduct an initial accessibility audit; (b) advising Mondelez Global  as to how to ensure its websites effectively communicate to the settlement class, and (c) verifying Mondelez Global’s compliance with the settlement.
2. Mondelez Global shall develop and implement an accessibility strategy designed to ensure that the websites effectively communicate to the settlement class.
3. Mondelez Global shall train all employees responsible for website or mobile application design, development, or maintenance to ensure the websites effectively communicate to the settlement class.
4. Mondelez Global shall provide support during regular business hours to help screen reader users resolve accessibility issues encountered while using the websites. 
5. Mondelez Global, or a consultant on its behalf, shall perform automated testing to evaluate whether the websites effectively communicate to screen reader users.
6. The accessibility consultant shall perform end-user accessibility testing to evaluate whether the websites effectively communicate to screen reader users.
7. For each new, renewed, or renegotiated contract with a vendor of third-party content, Mondelez Global shall request that the vendor commit to provide content in a format that effectively communicates with screen reader users.

The case is Douglass v. Mondelez Global, LLC, No. 2:22-cv-875 (W.D. Pa.). The Court’s class certification and approval order is available at Douglass v. Mondelez Global, LLC, No. 2:22-cv-875, Doc. 26 (W.D. Pa. Sept. 19, 2023).