Can bad UI design lead to legal actions? or is bad UI a good business model?
<p>Last year our office of parking upgraded their system, they didn't notify the users, they didn't tell anyone about this change. So I bought a parking permit and they have this dropdown where you choose the state of your plates. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but my car is international, and also this year they added to the dropdown <strong>every</strong> single possible Mexican state. So I chose my Mexican state. </p>

<p>Eleven months later, I got a citation saying that I had to choose Mexico instead of choosing the actual Mexican state (which was provided in the dropdown). Their excuse? Hidden within their website there is a paragraph and in its last sentence it says that if you own an international car you must choose the country. (They added this the year they changed the system, without anyone being notified about it.) This seems very shady to me, providing options which their only purpose is to give citations, making changes to the system without any notification, and blaming the user for not reading the entire website before any purchase.(The system has not been changed in any of the previous 6 years that I have been here.)</p>

<p>Is this legal? providing options for users that serve no other purpose other than to give citations, and then protecting yourself saying that <strong>somewhere</strong> in your website there are instructions on how to do it.</p>

<p>Summary: a website provides options whose only purpose is to give citations, somewhere in their website they say not to choose those options.</p>

<p>IANAL, let alone in Texas, however what they are doing would appear unlawful under Sec 17.46 of the <a href="http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/bc/htm/bc.17.htm" rel="nofollow">BUSINESS AND COMMERCE CODE</a> which regulates deceptive trade practices.</p>

<p>You might be able to rely on 
17.46(b)(24) which states <em>"failing to disclose information concerning goods or services which was known at the time of the transaction if such failure to disclose such information was intended to induce the consumer into a transaction into which the consumer would not have entered had the information been disclosed;</em>"</p>

<p>Also, depending on what the ticket looked like
17.46(28)(28)  </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>delivering or distributing a solicitation in connection with a good or
  service that: (A)  represents that the solicitation is sent on behalf
  of a governmental entity when it is not; or (B)  resembles a
  governmental notice or form that represents or implies that a criminal
  penalty may be imposed if the recipient does not remit payment for the
  good or service;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>You may also be able to seek relief as per section 17.50:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Sec. 17.50.  RELIEF FOR CONSUMERS.  (a)  A consumer may maintain an
  action where any of the following constitute a producing cause of
  economic damages or damages for mental anguish:</p>
  
  <p>(1)  the use or employment by any person of a false, misleading, or
  deceptive act or practice that is:</p>
  
  <p>(A)  specifically enumerated in a subdivision of Subsection (b) of
  Section 17.46 of this subchapter; and</p>
  
  <p>(B)  relied on by a consumer to the consumer's detriment;</p>
  
  <p>(2)  breach of an express or implied warranty;</p>
  
  <p><strong>(3)  any unconscionable action or course of action by any person</strong>; or</p>
  
  <p>(4)  the use or employment by any person of an act or practice in
  violation of Chapter 541, Insurance Code.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>This isn't legal advice. I am not a lawyer.</strong></p>

<p>From the information provided, the website is using <strong>browse-wrap</strong> agreement, i.e. agreement to Terms of Service whereby you have not had to expressly read the Terms of service and press a button such as 'I agree to the terms of service'.</p>

<p>Browse wrap agreements are enforceable only when the following conditions apply (according to the linked source):</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The user: </p>
  
  <p>1) had actual or constructive knowledge of the terms, </p>
  
  <p>2) had an actual opportunity to review them before proceeding, and</p>
  
  <p>3) understood that he or she was accepting them by using the website or doing some action.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Source: <a href="http://www.internetlegalattorney.com/make-website-terms-enforceable-101/" rel="nofollow">InternetLegalAttorney.com</a></p>

<p>According to this, I doubt that the Terms of Service are enforceable, as point 1 has been violated.</p>

<p>In terms of advice for going forwards, you can either:</p>

<ol>
<li>Have a civil conversation with the company explaining the circumstances. Also, underscoring that you've had the permit for 11 months and are a long term, loyal employee in the office would also help</li>
<li>Consult a lawyer, but the costs here may outweigh the fine itself</li>
</ol>

<p>I assume that you went to the web site to get parking as you have done in the past, and assumed that they would have told you by email or some prominent warning if the rules had changed. Legally speaking, they simply need to have stated their conditions in a manner that you could find them, for example with a link to "parking rules". The standard is that a person exhibiting "reasonable care" would then know what the current procedure is. There is, however, a lot of art to knowing what courts (juries) would find "reasonable". If the information is there under a link displayed on the renewal page or some page that you would pass by to get to the renewal page, and that link is termed something like "Rules", "Regulations", "Conditions" then you are expected to read that stuff. If the information was accessed under a link "Company History", "What We Do", "Contact Us" or the like, then a reasonable jury would find that this is not findable with reasonable care. (That assumes that the jury is reasonable).</p>

<p>This is not to suggest that it is good business practice to change important terms of an agreement without some kind of up-front notice like "please note the following changes in terms".</p>

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