A federal district court judge ruled last week that a retailer can be sued if its website is inaccessible to the blind, allowing a case brought by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) against Target to move forward, reports DM News.

The plaintiffs charge that target.com fails to meet the minimum standard of web accessibility, including alt-text (text embedded beneath graphic images, allowing screen readers to vocalize a description of the image to a blind user), and inaccessible image maps and other graphical features, preventing blind users from navigating and making use of all of the functions of the site. Also, because the site requires a mouse to complete a transaction, blind Target customers are unable to make purchases on target.com independently, the suit charged.

Target asked the court to dismiss the action, arguing that no law requires Target to make its site accessible, the NFB said. The court instead held that the federal and state civil rights laws do apply to retail sites like www.target.com.

Target said it would continue fighting the lawsuit.