SCOTUS To Decide Whether Self-Appointed “Tester” Plaintiffs Have Article III Standing to Sue Under the ADA: Legal and Practical Ramifications of the Court’s Anticipated Decision in Acheson Hotels, LLC v. Laufer

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On May 27, 2023, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari to review the First Circuit Court of Appeals’ holding in Acheson Hotels, LLC v. Laufer on the issue of whether a self-appointed Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) “tester” plaintiff has Article III standing to challenge a place of public accommodation’s failure to provide disability accessibility information on its website, even absent an intention of visiting that place of public accommodation. In this first review of an ADA Title III case in almost two decades, the Supreme Court will address an issue which has split the circuit courts across the country. SCOTUS’s merits decision could have significant ramifications for ADA litigation that has been wildly proliferating in the federal courts for the past decade, as well as broader implications for the standing doctrine. 

This presentation will discuss some of the potential ramifications of SCOTUS’s decision, including crystalizing the parameters of tester plaintiff standing, clarifying nuanced differences in ADA standing analysis depending on the type of alleged access barrier, and, on a broader level, clarifying whether discrimination by “denial of information” without traditional “downstream consequences” is a sufficiently concrete intangible injury to confer Article III standing. The practical effects of the Supreme Court’s anticipated decision on defending Title III tester claims will also be discussed.

 

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