High court dismisses disability ‘testers’ suit

WASHINGTON − The Supreme Court Tuesday unanimously tossed aside an appeal dealing with whether Americans with disabilities may sue hotels for failing to disclose accessibility information on their websites, deciding the case was moot.

Deborah Laufer, a Florida woman who uses a wheelchair, sued Acheson Hotels in 2020 after she discovered an inn the company operated in Maine did not disclose on its booking page whether it offered accessible rooms. That lack of disclosure violated a 2010 federal regulation tied to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

But in a twist, Laufer dismissed her underlying suit after the case was before the Supreme Court. And so the outcome Tuesday, which does not resolve the questions posted by Laufer’s suit, was not a major surprise.

Several justices questioned whether they could resolve the case or whether the dispute between Laufer and the Maine inn had resolved itself already. In an effort to forestall an unfavorable ruling, Laufer withdrew her lawsuit and the hotel is now under new ownership. That company now includes information about accessibility on its website.

At issue for the Supreme Court was whether self-styled “testers,” who scrutinize hotel booking websites for lack of information about accommodations, may sue those hotels in federal court – even if they have no intention of ever staying there.

Civil rights groups say such “tester” lawsuits are critical to enforcing the ADA, the 1990 law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability. Critics frame the suits as supporting a cottage industry of lawyers who are using the courts to extract thousands in settlement fees from hotels.