Netflix settles online ADA suit

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A closely watched case that grappled with the issue of the application of the Americans with Disabilities Act to the Internet has settled.

In June, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Ponsor held that the Internet is a place of public accommodation under the ADA and that video streaming company Netflix could be liable for failing to provide closed captioning for the hearing impaired.

The National Association of the Deaf had filed a discrimination suit against the company, alleging that by failing to provide captions for its movies Netflix was violating the ADA.

Netflix contended that the application of the ADA is limited to brick-and-mortar businesses and that the Internet is not a place of “public accommodation” as defined by the Act.

But in the first decision in the country to apply the ADA to an Internet-only business, Ponsor disagreed.

“In a society in which business is increasingly conducted online, excluding businesses that sell services through the Internet from the ADA would ‘run afoul of the purposes of the ADA and would severely frustrate Congress’s intent that individuals with disabilities fully enjoy the goods, services, privileges and advantages available indiscriminately to other members of the general public,’” he wrote in National Association of the Deaf v. Netflix in June.

On Oct. 10, the parties announced that they reached a settlement agreement.

Netflix agreed to provide closed captions for all of its streaming content by September 2014. The company will also update its interface so that over the next two years users will be able to identify which titles have been captioned and which have not. Finally, the company will pay $755,000 for the NAD’s attorney fees and court costs.

“We have worked consistently to make the broadest possible selection of titles available to Netflix members who are deaf or hard of hearing and are far and away the industry leader in doing so,” Neil Hunt, chief product officer for Netflix, said in a statement. “We are pleased to have reached this agreement and hope it serves as a benchmark for other providers of streaming video entertainment.”

According to the joint consent decree submitted to the federal court in Springfield, Mass., the plaintiffs will monitor Netflix’s progress and the court will maintain jurisdiction for four years to assure compliance.