The Real Legal Consequences of an Inaccessible Website

Last year, roughly 3,100 ADA Title II web accessibility lawsuits(opens in a new tab) were filed in federal court, about 33 every business day. That number has tripled since tracking began in 2013, and last year’s 2% dip still leaves filings near their all-time highs.

For most businesses, that's not reassuring — it's a baseline.

Web accessibility litigation isn’t a niche legal risk for anyone. It’s a consistent, high-volume threat that shows no signs of fading. And while the headline number gets attention, the details behind it are more telling: which industries are targeted most, what triggers an ADA demand letter, and what separates companies that get sued from those that don’t. 

Below, we’ll break down the latest ADA Title II filing data(opens in a new tab), what it means for your legal risk in 2026, and how to meet ADA compliance requirements. 

The Scale of the Risk

Federal filings are just part of the picture in the accessibility lawsuit. Web-specific cases reached 3,117 in federal court in 2025 (as we mentioned above), a 27% increase from 2024. But those numbers only capture the most visible layer of litigation. According to our 2026 Web Accessibility Litigation Report, which analyzed federal and state filings through September 2025, nearly 8 in 10 lawsuits now originate in state courts, where statutory damages can stack up fast, and cases are harder to track. 

For businesses, the state-court shift matters more than the headline number suggests — those cases carry steeper consequences and don’t show up in the federal data most people are tracking. New York’s Human Rights Law, for example, allows civil penalties up to $50,000 for a first offense, while California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act sets a minimum of $4,000 per violation. 

And the geographic spread of accessibility litigation is wider than most businesses expect. In 2025, New York federal courts led with 1,021 web accessibility lawsuits(opens in a new tab), followed by Florida with 961, nearly double its 2024 total, and Illinois with 585, driven by plaintiff firms relocating filings after New York courts applied stricter standing requirements. 

Open envelope with a letter coming out. 'ADA' is at the top of the letter. An accessibility symbol is to the left of the envelope and the image is set against a green background.

What Happens When a Business Gets an ADA Demand Letter?

For most businesses, legal exposure doesn’t start with a lawsuit — it starts with a letter. Thousands of demand letters are filed every year, each one outlining specific violations against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines(opens in a new tab) (WCAG) and how users with disabilities were denied equal access to online spaces. You have 30 to 60 days to respond to the allegations before the plaintiff’s firm escalates to litigation, and you face expensive fines or penalties. 

What makes demand letters effective as a legal tool is the same thing that makes them easy to miss as a business risk. They don’t require court filings, they don’t appear in federal data, and they’re often resolved quietly, which is exactly why the total volume of accessibility pressure is greater than headline lawsuit numbers suggest. The firms sending them have refined the model: scan, send, and settle.

That calculus changes when a letter goes unanswered, or a settlement falls through. That’s when the cost picture shifts significantly. 

How Much Does an ADA Web Accessibility Lawsuit Cost?

The honest answer? It depends. ADA settlement costs vary significantly based on how early the case is resolved, which state it’s filed in, the size of your business, and the number and severity of the barriers identified. A demand letter resolved quickly costs far less than a case that settles, and a settlement costs far less than one that goes to court. 

What data does show is that having an accessibility solution in place doesn’t automatically reduce your exposure. 38.5% of businesses sued in 2025 already had an accessibility solution, often one that promised compliance but didn’t deliver. 

The bottom line: The cost of a lawsuit doesn’t decrease because you attempted to improve accessibility or made half-hearted fixes. Only when the underlying barriers are actually gone does your risk significantly decrease.

What Website Issues Actually Trigger ADA Lawsuits?

What many businesses don’t realize about accessibility lawsuits is that they’re predictable. The barriers that trigger complaints are typically well documented and, in most cases, fixable — which is what makes them so concerning to see year after year in litigation data. 

According to our 2026 Litigation Report, the same issues appear across hundreds of pages: 

• Keyboard navigation (88% of cases): Users can’t interact with key site features without a mouse, blocking access entirely for screen reader users and people with motor impairments.

• Landmark structure (88%): Missing semantic HTML tags prevent screen reader users from navigating between sections such as the header, menu, and main content.

• Screen reader compatibility (74%): Content, forms, and buttons that fail to read correctly, breaking the experience for blind and low-vision users. 

• Buttons and link descriptions (63%): Vague labels like “click here” leave screen reader users unable to determine where a link goes or what a button actually does. 

• Missing alt text (39%): Images without descriptive alt text block visual context for users who rely on screen readers.

What makes this list significant isn’t just its consistency; it’s what tells you about intent. Alongside compliance risk, these issues create conversion risk. Each broken form, unlabeled button, or inaccessible navigation flow is a direct hit to revenue and brand trust. Plaintiff firms aren’t finding obscure edge cases. They’re finding the same failures that block real users from completing real transactions.

Isometric illustration of online shopping with a laptop, shopping cart, credit card, smartphone, and payment terminal.

Which Industries and States are Targeted Most?

No industry draws more ADA web accessibility lawsuits than e-commerce. In 2025, e-commerce accounted for 78% of all accessibility lawsuits, and it’s understandable as to why. Online retail creates more touchpoints for accessibility than almost any other industry: product listings, search filters, cart flows, checkout forms, and payment screens. Users return to those flows repeatedly, and every visit is a potential documented barrier, which is why plaintiff firms target e-commerce more.

That said, e-commerce isn’t the only industry with exposure. Healthcare, finance, government, and education are also seeing increased enforcement activity as more industries digitize customer-facing experiences.

Geography matters too. In 2025, New York federal courts led with 1,021 web accessibility filings, followed by Florida with 961 (nearly double its 2024 total), and Illinois climbed to 585. A business doesn’t need to be headquartered in New York or Florida to be sued there, either. It just needs to have customers who shop there.

What Do Real ADA Web Accessibility Cases Look Like?

Two cases illustrate how quickly accessibility exposure can escalate, and how different the outcomes can look depending on how a business responds. 

Robles vs. Domino’s Pizza LLC

In 2019, a blind man who uses screen-reading software sued Domino’s after he was unable to place an order through its website or mobile app. The court ruled that the ADA applied to Domino’s website and app because they connected customers to the goods and services of Domino’s physical restaurants, which are places of public accommodation. The case didn’t end with an appeal; it went back to the district court and eventually settled, years after a single inaccessible order flow triggered the original complaint. 

Alcazar vs. Fashion Nova, Inc.

Juan Alcazar, a legally blind plaintiff, sued fast-fashion retailer Fashion Nova in 2020(opens in a new tab), alleging its website was inaccessible to screen reader users in violation of ADA Title III and California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act. What began as a single-plaintiff complaint became a five-year legal battle. Fashion Nova agreed to a $5.15 million settlement in 2025, one of the largest accessibility statements on record, and committed to bringing its website into conformance with WCAG 2.1 standards. 

The throughline between both cases is the same: a barrier blocked a real user from completing a basic task. Neither started as a complex legal matter, but both quickly became one. 

What Separates Companies that Get Sued From Those that Don’t?

Businesses that avoid litigation aren’t necessarily the ones with the most resources. They’re the ones that treat accessibility as an ongoing practice rather than a one-time fix. The data makes the distinction clear: nearly 40% of businesses sued in 2025 already had an accessibility solution in place, usually something that sold false promises as full compliance. 

What actually decreases legal exposure? Code-level fixes combined with continuous monitoring. Plaintiff firms aren’t scanning for obscure failures. They’re finding the same keyboard navigation traps, missing alt text, and unlabeled form fields that show up in complaint after complaint. Those are fixable. The businesses that fix them proactively, document their efforts, and maintain accessibility over time give plaintiff firms very little to work with.

That’s where AudioEye comes in. Our combination of automated scanning, expert testing, and legal protection is built around the same barriers that drive litigation, not just the ones that are easy to detect. AudioEye delivers 400% more protection from valid legal claims than automation-only tools, the lowest valid claim rate in the industry, and the only courtroom dismissal any accessibility provider can point to.

Start with a free scan to see where your exposure is today.